Holy Sh*t!

Moth flies.....this one is Clogmia albipunctata. Cute little thing yes? WRONG!

They can kill you.......

According to Wikipedia they have venom that's potentially fatal. I have yet to find out if any of this is indeed true as we all know that Wikipedia does contain lies.

But for now.....holy shit! I saw one in my house yesterday.

Despite their small size, Psychodidae are able to inject venom through human skin. The actual amount injected is very small in physical volume. When this small amount of venom is diffused throughout the body of a healthy, mature human, it usually does not amount to a fatal dose.

Deaths in healthy adults from Psychodidae bites are relatively rare in terms of the number of bites per thousand people. However, if enough sustained bites go untreated for a length of time, they can prove fatal. Sixty-three deaths were reported in the United States between 1950 and 1959.

Sweet Jesus......I've actually held these things many times over the years and I've never felt them trying to penetrate my skin before.

Unless you can't feel it? But mosquitoes are also small and you can feel them when they try to steal your blood so what's up with that? Like I said I'm definitely going to ask around about this and see if I can confirm this to be true.

And if it is. I want to know if all species carry this potentially fatal venom. It seems so unlikely though yet Idk for sure since I haven't gone out to back this up even though I don't want to back it up because I'm hoping for a false alarm.

You will certainly know if it is a false alarm. I hate to believe something so common has the potential to be so deadly if enough of them bite you.....

Lord have mercy. The source to this and other info on Psychodidae: Clicky!