Nairobi fly
The Nairobi fly is not a fly at all. It is a small, slim beetle with shiny blue or green wing cases and bright orange on its body. Its bright colours warn other animals to stay away.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
The skin rash often comes in a line, because people brush the beetle off and drag it across their skin.
The rash does not show up right away. It appears a day or so later.
It flies in the daytime and is drawn to bright lights at night.
There are more than 400 kinds of these beetles around the world.
Most asked questions about Nairobi fly
?What should you do if a Nairobi fly lands on you?
Gently blow it off or let it walk away, without squashing it. Then wash the skin with soap and water.
?Is the Nairobi fly a fly?
No. It is a kind of rove beetle, even though people call it a fly.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Paederus
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Staphylinidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Staphylinidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia and Oceania
Where the facts come from
- Paederus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Jiaminglimjm. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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