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Post by toni on Sept 7, 2009 8:17:05 GMT -5
I took this picture of this gnat using the underneath lighting, and it shows it's "striped" like body which can possibly help ID the species too, along with the wing design.
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jo
Junior Member
Posts: 94
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Post by jo on Sept 7, 2009 17:43:13 GMT -5
I laughed out loud with the hump on the snout observation - brilliant!! ;D Quite possibly, not even an entomologist would spot that!! Thanks Sydney for the those reports. Very interesting about the tiny buffalo gnats and black flies. That last report had morgs written all over it - 1994 was a long time ago now. In fact that was the year I went to Florida from here in Uk. Toni - I reckon your new find is a female fungus gnat! Very glad its dead. Didnt know vanilla was a good thing. I sprayed my car with peppermint yesterday and two female fn's appeared from my seat belt area. Maybe we should join Fungus Gnats Online forum Kam? sciaroidea.infoOver n out Jo xxx
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Post by ibzahp on Sept 7, 2009 17:50:36 GMT -5
I looked at a couple of fungus gnats that died in my bathroom today. Found dead in the tub-yuck, I don't want to be a fungus gnat forest ;D
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Post by toni on Sept 7, 2009 18:46:23 GMT -5
;D hehehe...yeah, I was checking that face out real good...ugh Jo, (it's a female gnat)? hahhaa That's making me chuckle. You got me, how can you tell? ;D Is it "the stripes"? I ask that cause I noticed some didn't seem to be striped like that in the abdomen. (maybe that's not it) ;D
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Post by Sidney on Sept 7, 2009 23:56:54 GMT -5
Toni Sue, if you don't see any itty bitty OO's on the underneath of it and way to the back, there's a good chance it's female. I know you knew that. You just forgot. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Post by kammy on Sept 8, 2009 12:54:21 GMT -5
A great photo, Toni!
I think the Ga. Tech Yellowjackets and the Ga. Bulldogs got together there? Yes, Jo, we're almost ready for those science journals... he he... are you saying that fn's just magically APPEARED when you put peppermint in your seat belt area? oh, nevermind... ;D... is someone writing this down, somewhere?... lol This is too much!
Or, maybe it's more like the head of a bat, I nominate the name "Bat Gnat", you can come up with it's scientific name for the journals, Jo?... ;D it's definitely Lucifer-like?
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Post by toni on Sept 8, 2009 13:06:20 GMT -5
Sid that was a good one! ;D
Kammy, (I like that too, bat gnat)
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Post by kammy on Sept 16, 2009 18:24:03 GMT -5
Well... I still haven't got the gnats under control in the house from the bag of bad potatoes. I think I need to disinfect all surfaces and set off bombs? I can see how a pet might get infected too when live gnats are in our environments. Here's a couple of photos of the dead 'Bat Gnats' that hatched in the sealed Petri Dish, I don't know yet if they match the ones that came from potatoes or not, these came from my tap water! I just wanted you all to see their hairy heads and how the colors of their hairs appear to match the rainbow colors of the fibers? These are 3 different gnats.
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Post by toni on Sept 18, 2009 11:21:42 GMT -5
Kammy,
A couple of years ago, (when I had a couple of bad potatoes) in my (potato cupboard) and had a million gnats for the first time ever, here's what I did.
I took and threw out the yucking potatoes of course, then I used a soapy wet rag with dishsoap (antibacterial dishsoap), and bleach and water, and scrubbed out that lower cupboard.
Then I placed an open jar of Vicks VapoRub in there and left it.
And it's been perfectly perfect since then. No smell of Vicks no nothing. Just clean as a whistle since the yucky potatoes incident and gnats...and it's going on at least 2 years now it's been perfect.
PS, great pics of your gnat heads too. And WOW, that is so weird about the different (multi-colored) hairs on that gnats head! Are you using "the underneath lighting" or the overhead lighting?
Thank you!
Mine also have tiny hairs like that - but I'm not sure about the multicolored hairs. That's amazing! I'm really glad you saw that...and are sharing that.
(I've got something new going on with my dead gnat on my scope slide. Be back with the "pods forming" on him.
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Post by toni on Sept 18, 2009 11:28:27 GMT -5
These are something new over the last few days. These tiny tiny pods are forming around and on my dead gnat that is on my glass scope slide. This is by it's front legs. Be back with more.
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Post by toni on Sept 18, 2009 11:33:09 GMT -5
Here's another POD thing on the gnats back leg and rear end part. be back...
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Post by toni on Sept 18, 2009 11:36:55 GMT -5
This is just a bigger pic of it. Are these weird too or what? These seem as weird as your 'punker gnat' Kammy! ;D hahhahaa I say that funning cause of the multi-colored hairs yours has ;D
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Post by Sidney on Sept 18, 2009 13:46:02 GMT -5
Looks like fungus to me. I actually wonder if a growing medium would even be necesssary. Might just put a dead fly or gnat or whatever is hanging out at your house into a Zip Lock bag and forget about it for a week or two. Maybe place the bag in a dark place?
Someone I know and love dearly bought a mold test kit at Home Depot or Lowe's. Can't remember which, but guess we could probably buy them at either place.
This friend was coughing up some really nasty stuff at the time, and decided to try and culture the sputum. Well, the results were very revealing as well as frightening.
My friend had intended to send the kit somewhere, but was so horrified at what was growing that it was bagged carefully and placed in the trash...outside.
I just wonder if our skin specimens would grow anything? My guess is the answer would be yes, but I haven't done the experiment yet.
Just throwing an idea out there if anyone is interested in pursuing it.
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Post by bannanny on Sept 18, 2009 20:47:10 GMT -5
Don't know how I missed this thread... but I did. Just wanted to say I've been seeing gnats around me lately too. No dead ones, but they just seem to appear out of nowhere. Hope they aren't coming from me. That's all the gnat news I have to offer here so far tho!
bug hugs ~~ bannanny
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Post by kammy on Sept 18, 2009 23:31:04 GMT -5
Toni, those look like gnat eggs to me... where's Jo? Jo, do you think what Toni is calling a pod are the gnat's eggs?
Ok, Toni - you want to see something? If it's not too late, the eggs appear to live for days, you can tell if they are still activated by looking at them with 100x and they will have an actual 'energy' about them that 'vibrates/shines/shimmers' from them, just lift those pods/eggs with your tweezers (be sure to wash the tweezers very good afterwards) and put the eggs in a very moist, SECURE, taped up container, like a Petri Dish and then in some place warm. Choose a dish that will fit under your microscope without lifting anything out it, you don't want to mess with it, just scope it, that's clear glass or plastic so the light from the scope can do its job. Hopefully, your scope has enough room where you can fit a small dish in the viewing area?
With a Petri Dish, you turn them upside down to create a greenhouse effect, you might want to figure out a way to make a clear gelatin/sugar base, something for them to stick to, they should grow in most anything wet... it doesn't matter that your tap water might be contaminated, it won't affect the outcome of your experiment, you want a little extra water in the dish.
Those eggs are covered in a fungus... and when water is added the fungus spreads out... and in a day or two you can look at this fungus microscopically and see if you see the same shots I've shown? The eggs will wrap themselves in the fungus like a protective cocoon.
They will turn into larvae... and go thru several instars... then a pupae stage before adult. You can toss them at any time. Then we can compare photos, if you want to?
What's weird is that they seem to lay their eggs AFTER they have died?... can't swear to it... yet, I think that's what's happening?
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Post by kammy on Sept 18, 2009 23:38:30 GMT -5
Don't know how I missed this thread... but I did. Just wanted to say I've been seeing gnats around me lately too. No dead ones, but they just seem to appear out of nowhere. Hope they aren't coming from me. That's all the gnat news I have to offer here so far tho! bug hugs ~~ bannanny Banny... these gnats are partially or mostly what's killing us! The adults start out real small, like no see'ums... they are very quick and I believe they can lay their eggs (which are microscopic) in an instant! All they have to do is touch your food, water, drink, body... and that's all it takes to deposit their eggs. You need to sanitize all your surfaces, I believe that a bleach/soap combo kills the eggs? I have a brand new kitty that just showed up... I don't have any store bought kitty dishes... so, I just sat his water and food dishes on the floor... well, we know how kitties are?... some of the moist food or water got on the floor and I look down in a matter of going from one room to another... and 20 gnats had hatched on the floor near his food/water dishes! I'm giving him a new dish for water and food each time now while I still have a gnat or two in the house. And, changing his litter box - completely removing the litter every 3 or 4 days now. Banny, do you think you could gently kill one of yours, drown it or something, and scope it and see if it's the "Bat Bulldog Punk Gnat", too? Oh, nevermind... stick around - this is the funnest thread out here... ;D
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Post by kammy on Sept 19, 2009 0:03:34 GMT -5
You see how Toni's gnat looks dried out? and mine... isn't?... Mine has been dead a while too... Mine was sealed air tight in a Petri Dish, that's why. And Toni is using top lighting and I'm using bottom. I'm using 100x (the minimum) and Toni is using 20 or 40x? We can't tell if Toni's has the same multi-colored hairs? I'm suspecting that it might depend on the moisture content being present as to whether we see these colored hairs or not? Toni do you have the capability to look at yours with 100x bottom lit, to see if it has the colored hairs? (If you have the time or inclination?... If not, maybe I'll dry one out and photograph it later... lol, we are too weird!)
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Post by kammy on Sept 19, 2009 7:44:53 GMT -5
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Post by cyn on Sept 19, 2009 8:33:49 GMT -5
anyone
How about cutting a gnat in half, and seeing if it is full of clear gel? Would like to know if M's is replicating these guys. I know the crickets that have plagued my area have dozens of parasites that die with it. Could the gnats have parasites? (inside the pods) Every once in a while I see one gnat fly around me and have always wondered if he came from my scalp. The nose or mouth is just too disgusting, I'll stick with the scalp when I have to think of them.
If I wanted to SIDNEY, could I culture my sputum in a baggy or do I need to add gelatin and sugar?
Toni, is that a clear tube sticking out of your gnat on the left side between the legs? The first photo.
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Post by toni on Sept 19, 2009 9:32:22 GMT -5
Kammy the photos (because of the Qx5 are at 60X) mag.
I should be putting that (so we all know) what's what when we see our pictures.
And seriously...thank you about how to do these "pods/eggs" things.
I'll do that right now.
I do have alittle "dish" that came with the microscope which is for containing specimens.
I'll put in a little "sugar water"?? And allow it to sit and we'll see what happens. I'm as curious as you too ;D
And you're right about how odd for my gnat to be all de-hydrated, and yours looks "brand new"!
I'll check out it's head hairs to see if it's hairs are multicolored.
Thank you for the ways of how to do this.
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