Backyard and Beyond

Starting out from Brooklyn, an amateur naturalist explores our world.

As John Burroughs said, “The place to observe nature is where you are.”

Moth Fly

Friends! Are you troubled by little gray-black flies that, upon closer inspection (don’t be shy, get a little closer, the details are remarkable) look rather moth-like with their hairy wings and bodies? Do you wonder why they seem to be hanging around your sinks? Or, like this one, in the hallway, just waiting for my defenses to be breached?

Well, trouble no more, you’ve discovered the subfamily Psychodinae, the moth flies. Yes, it’s a confusing name, sort of like “spider beetles”. These are also known as drain flies since they breed in the rich bacterial slime that collects in home drains. (Ahem, present company excepted, of course.)These are just under 1/4th inch long.

mthew

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4 responses to “Moth Fly”

  1. Elizabeth White

    Other than using pesticides or other harsh chemicals, I wonder what will kill the larvae off? Very hot water and salt, maybe?
    They can die from eating laundry soap, I believe. At least there were lots of little bodies in my mother’s basement in the laundry sink, and the bar of laundry soap kept getting smaller and smaller without having been used.

    Reply
    1. mthew

      Yes, steam and boiling water, but the best thing seems to be to scrub out the drains so that there’s no medium for them to return.

      Reply
  2. Tom

    We call these “bathroom bugs.” We don’t see them very often and, when we do, there are never more than one or two at a time. I wonder if they are seasonal.

    Reply
    1. mthew

      They’re turning their antenna up at your drains. Probably a good thing.

      Reply

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