Hyttynen (Culidae) Mosquito
A mosquito larva grows up in fresh water ponds and ditches and takes 2-3 weeks to transform into a full grown mosquito that can live for as long as 4 more weeks. One female mosquito can lay around 200 eggs during it's life. At winter only the eggs survive in the water and start to hatch early in spring.
Only female mosquitoes drink blood, males only feed on nectar and plant juices (mesi). The females don't need blood for their own survival, but they need proteins and iron to develop eggs. There is no real threat of contracting malaria or any other disease from a Scandinavian mosquito.
Most birds, frogs and even spiders feed on mosquitoes. When a mosquito stings, it injects saliva which contains a mixture of secreted proteins and antibodies that prevent the blood from clotting. The itching from a mosquito sting comes from an immune response to these antibodies.
Mosquitoes are attracted by dark moving shapes, carbon dioxide (CO2) and 1-Octen-3-ol or octenol, also known as mushroom alcohol, which is contained in human breath and sweat.
Mosquitoes can usually be found on wet and dark areas, suchs as swamp land, fir forests and around still fresh water and on cloudy weather. To avoid them, seek sunny areas, dry forests, such as pine and birch forests or windy areas.
The mosquito makes a loud "eeee" sound (ininä) when flying, is not fast but a very agile flyer and can be hard to catch. It can sting through a T-shirt or light trousers connected to skin, but usually seeks bare skin.
Hirvikärpänen (Lipoptena cervi) Deer Ked or Deer Fly
Hirvikärpänen measures around 6-7mm, they live in elk or deer fur, feeding on blood. The larvae develop and pupate inside the female's body. The female deer fly may produce larvae for as long as 10 months.
Unlike the mosquito, the deer fly finds it's victims by sensing heat signals. The deer fly can only very rarely if at all bite humans, and it will only reproduce in animal fur.
The deer fly is a very bad flyer and usually prefers to only fly on still weather, or simply wait in grass for passing animals. When landing on hair or fur the deer fly will drop it's wings and climb to the very root of the hair by the skin.
The body of a deer fly is quite hard and it can only be removed with a thick comb or with fingernails. Even then it will move among the roots of hairs trying to avoid capture.
Suppupaarma (Haematopota pluvialis) A genus of Horse Fly in the family Tabanidae
There are almost 40 species of horse flies in Finland.
In resting position the wings bend tightly around the body. This paarma, reaching 8-12mm long, flies without sound and immediately cuts the skin with an angry bite to feed on blood. The bite area gets red and itches and stings long after the bug has bitten, but usually does not swell.
Basically this fly is so undetectable that it can be noticed only after it has bitten, unless you are on the lookout for it.
The horse flies usually fly and bite on sunny weather but the Haematopota pluvialis does so also on cloudy weather. Only females suck blood, males feed on flower extracts. The horse flies can be found especially around water.
Like all flies the horse fly is extremely fast and agile flyer and very hard to catch.
Puutiainen (Ixodes ricinus) Sheep Tick or Castor Bean Tick
Puutiainen lives on undergrass especially on thick leaf forests around water. The bite from this tick can spread Lyme desease (borreliosis) or brain fever. Around every 4th tick carries borreliosis bacteria.
Puutiainen attaches itself to it's victim with its teeth and sucks the blood of mammals, birds, snakes and reptiles and also humans. It usually seeks weak skin around armpits or groin area. It's size will increase with the amount of blood it sucks.
The tick needs two or three blood meals during it's life. In larval stage, nymph stage and as an adult to produce eggs. Most common bites on humans are nymph stage bites as the tick nymph is only a few millimeters tall and hard to detect. On cats and dogs one can usually spot adult ticks. On larval stage the tick will favor rodents and birds.
When attaching itself to feed on blood the tick takes it's time to connect itself deep into the skin so that only it's big hard back body is visible.
The adult tick stays connected for 3 days, the larvae and the nymph stages 7 to 9 days. The female lays 1000-10000 eggs that also feed on the blood of the host animal.
One tick can live for years and go without eating for one whole year. Inside a house this tick can survive for months with only a little humidity.
The old ways say that it should be removed by drowning it in grease but this method is no longer recommended as the tick might throw up its bowels into the wound and thus increase the risk of infection.
The tick should be mechanically removed with pincers, being careful not to leave any legs or teeth behind.
Mäkärä tai Mäkäräinen (Simuliidae) Black Fly, Buffalo Gnat, Turkey Gnat or White Socks
Mäkärä is a small, bulky, black fly that can grow up to 2 millimeters long. There are around 30 species of them in Finland.
The black fly larvae live in creek or river bottoms, connected to rocks. Adult males feed on nectar while females also feed on blood.
This is the small annoying fly that will fly into your eyes and ears and leave small bleeding bitemarks that are more painful that mosquito bites.
They usually feed day and evening time, especially near grassy areas.
Yleinen Ampiainen (Vespula vulgaris) Common Wasp
Ampiainen can usually be found nesting in the crevices of wooden roofs, trees, earth holes et cetera.
It lives in a colony from a dozen up to 10000 wasps. One colony consists of a queen, bunch of males and a varying amount of female workers that are unable to reproduce.
The nest is build of chewed wood matter. The wasps produce a chemical that deters ants. The same nest is no longer in use the following year. All the workers and the present queen will die in the winter.
The ampiainen will hunt for insects to feed their larvae. The adults will feed on nectar, sweet fruits and berries. The wasps might even break into bee hives to steal honey, the bees trying to kill them by suffocation.
Ampiainen can both sting you with its stinger, which is located inside it's back end, and bite you with it's teeth. The bite/sting is painful but harmless.
The ampiainen is fearless of humans, might even land anywhere on you. Some say that they can sense fear. Regardless, you might succeed by staying still or whack it midflight. The wasp has no motivation in stinging or biting, unless it is bothered or agitated.
With careful concentration one is able to hold a wasp by its backside without it being able to either sting or bite you. Its back end it extreme agile though and can rotate to unimaginable angles.
The new queens and males are born at the end of summer. They spent the winter in earth crevices or inside buildings.
Kyy (Vipera berus) European Adder or Common European Viper
Among Rantakäärme ([Natrix natrix] Grass Snake, Ringed Snake, Water Snake) and Kangaskäärme ([Coronella austriaca] Smooth snake), kyy is one of Finland's three snake species.
It is also the most common snake in Finland but still only rarely encountered, as it will flee from the slightest of sounds.
Kyy usually grows upto about 60 to 80cm, but can grow over 1 meter long. It can live as long as 15 to 25 years.
Kyy gives birth to 3-20 living young of 14-23 cm.
Kyy feeds on lizards and rodents, especially mice and voles. It will also eat frogs (not toads), young birds and eggs.
Kyy lives in rocky crevices and can hardly ever be sighted. Kyy is also not very common anymore.
Kyy bites are less and less common. Remember that a snake can only strike one third of it's length.
If you try to catch one, for example to relocate it, you might want to use a long Y shaped stick and pin its head down. When pinned you can grab it's head, holding it firmly from behind it's neck and push it into a bottle or a bag, or just lift it up.
A kyy bite is not usually lethal, but causes great pain and swelling and color changes. Most trekkers are adviced to carry a kyypakkaus, which contains Hydrocortisone (synthetic cortisol, [C21H30O5]).
However the effect of kyypakkaus is not proven, and the hydrocortisone does not replace possible antivenom, which can be administered in a hospital.
Most important thing is to remain calm in your mind and to stay still, possibly lowering the bite area below heart level. Treatment or not, you will probably not die.
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