Date: Thu, 20 May 2010 13:36:37 -0400
Reply-To: David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Subject: Re: mossie netting, was Re: Totally NEW Add-A-Room for Vanagons
In-Reply-To: <0EC269C1-BF93-4D90-A531-7052BBF1074A@shaw.ca>
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At 12:28 PM 5/20/2010, Alistair Bell wrote:
>Maybe where David camps that kind of screening works, keeping out the
>Chihuahuas and Pekinese, but out here on the west coast of Canada(and
>I am sure other parts of the world)
State 'o Maine has Culicoides as well; locally called minges as well
as no-see-ums. But they don't seem to favor the water much. The
shore, yes. It also features (near the Penobscot River) a reasonable
crop of Simulium penobscotii, the only variety of this little guy
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjLBXb1kgMo&feature=related> which
breeds every 2-3 weeks through the summer instead of once in the spring.
> you can be, a certain times of
>the years, plagued by no-see-ums that easily easily get through that
>kind of screening and the stock screening found in the camper poptop,
>rear hatch screen, and window screens.
I never understood why the Quebecois called them "Sparks from hell"
until I got a beardfull in the woods one day. Normally (here, not in
Canada) you feel the tiny red-hot needle, put your finger on the spot
to smush the little speck and forget about it. In half an hour it's
gone. But we were camping in the Berkshires one evening on a
powerline cut and I was working outside with no shirt, and getting
bitten. Suddenly and with no particular warning (department of
redundancy department?) all the little pinpricks coalesced into one
great fire, and I went close to mad with the pain. Half an hour
later it was gone, but it was a tough half hour. I've had various
pains that have made me groan and/or holler (I'm no stoic) but this
is the only one that ever made me weep.
>It is a really fine weave, trade off is that air flow is reduced
>compared to the stock stuff.
For here we add it to the regular screen when needed.
> But crimny, if you have ever been
>exposed to the clouds (no hyperbole) of no-see-ums that come out at
>dusk, especially near a river on the west coast, then you accept that
>trade off.
I believe it -- fervently. See above. As a side note, my father and
two of my brothers took a trip to Nova Scotia once, with a station
wagon and a pup tent. On the night in question, Dad and Philip were
tormented unmercifully by no-see-ums and similar, and arose in the
morning with red eyes and foul tempers. Chris came yawning and
stretching out of the wagon, complaining that it had taken him twenty
minutes to catch the three mosquitos that went to bed with him. He
was a bit shocked at the response.
>yes, the teeny tiny buggers bite. how they manage to give you such a
>hit, a very palpable hit :) with mouth parts that must be measured
>in microns, is beyond me.
The usual stab, saw, suck deal -- maybe spit too, the way mosquitos
do. Occasionally people become allergic, so I suspect there may be
spitting involved.
>The mouthparts are well-developed with cutting teeth on elongated
>mandibles in the proboscis, adapted for blood-sucking in females,
>but not in males.
Since you mentioned Chihuahuas and all, we have a few other vicious
biters that leave a bleeding wound. Horse flies (Tabanus spp) are
huge and slow and stupid; Greenheads (T. nigrovittatus and T.
contenninus) are large* and slow. Deer flies (Chrysops spp) are
medium-housefly size and hatefully *fast.* You no doubt have all
them, bigger and better than ours and lots more as well. <g>
*Quote:
>The Greenhead is about 7/8-1 1/8" (22-28 mm)long, *except in
>Brigantine, NJ* where they range from 3" to 10 3/4" long. They are
>light brown in color with bright green eyes, a reddish brown thorax
>and abdomen, and wings with markings only along the front edge.
:)
d
