M&M Midge Report

Those "no-see-ums" we encountered in Florida turn out to be Culicoides furens, otherwise known as biting midges. According to this research, the midges are most common in the mangrove swamps and salt marshes of the Florida coast, and only the females bite, mostly at dusk and dawn -- the prime camping time and the exact location for a couple of milky white, Hiassen-esque tourists like Michelle and me to show up at Pennekamp State Park.

Female midges use the blood they suck to produce eggs, with each "blood meal" responsible for between 50 and 110 eggs. So, given my rough estimate of 80 bites on me, and guessing Michelle has about the same, M&M are conservatively responsible for at least 8,000 of these little buggers entering the world.

For that I apologize to the present and future "wimp" campers in Florida, as our friend Donna called us.

A week later, and I'm itchier and buggier than I was when they bit me.