New York City residents have taken to social media as scores of winged aphids filled the skies at the same time as smoke from Canadian wildfires, invading multiple boroughs.
Photographer Jeremy Cohen pointed out bugs that were dying on his shirt and glasses when he was biking in a Thursday Twitter video.
“It feels like the apocalypse right now,” he remarked.
Multiple Twitter users referenced the ten plagues of Egypt in the biblical story of Exodus, including flies.
CANADA WILDFIRE SMOKE RAISES HEALTH RISKS AMONG BLACK, POORER RESIDENTS IN THE US
In this photo provided by Andrew Jensen, an aphid feeds on a native flowering plant called “prairie smoke” (Geum triflorum) in Idaho near Slate Creek in the Nez-Perce National Forest on May 25, 2013. The species’ name is Macrosiphum euphorbiae, also known as “potato aphid,” which is native to the U.S. and Canada. As if the smoke and haze sweeping in from fires in Canada weren’t enough, some parts of New York City are swarming with aphids. ((Andrew Jensen via AP))
Some neighborhoods have remained bug-free, although the air quality index on Friday was enough to keep many indoors.
The question remained: What were the insects? Many said they…
