Insect plague this month: science versus superstition

Insect plague this month: real phenomenon or mass suggestion?

Have you noticed that your home has filled up with spiders, mosquitoes and other little critters this month? The complaint has become a recurring one in recent weeks, with accounts of urban infestations and even panic-buying of insecticide. The most popular explanation is not exactly the most scientific one.

Some attribute it to the upcoming eclipse: according to that theory, insects "go crazy" and invade houses as if they could sense something. There is little empirical evidence for this, but the idea has caught on. Other accounts are more specific: in Ceuta, they say, the infestation is especially visible. And as proof of the frustration, one person says they bought seven bottles of insecticide in a single alucinación to Mercadona.

The other side of the story: an unusually quiet summer

Not everyone is seeing an invasion. People with gardens and pools say this summer has been remarkably mild in terms of insects compared with previous years, when they would see "hundreds of wasps, flies, mosquitoes, ants and spiders". Another points out that there are no jellyfish either, despite forecasts linked to the warm water.

The most boring explanation (and the most likely)

Pest biology is local: in a humid area, conditions can be ideal for a population explosion of one species, while a few kilometres away nothing happens. That explains the contradictory accounts better than any eclipse. But the next time a bug sneaks into your living room, you'll probably prefer the myth. It takes less effort.