Attack Of The ... What Are They?

[JusMe]

I've seen them a number of times before, gathering around any light source, losing their wings, falling in masses to the ground where lizards and small rodents have such a feast they bloat and can barely move.

About one and a half centimetres long, tan coloured, with transparent wings that fall off very easily. They flutter about and lose those wings in what seems a planned action.

So insistent that they've been squeezing under the rolled screening at the bottom of my screen door, so despite the warmth, I've had to close the outside solid door to exclude them.

They don't seem harmful in any way, but sure are a nuisance when you've got a cloud of 'em in the living room, trying to spray them without poisoning yourself, or getting your daily exercise by knocking them out of the air with a dishcloth and stomping 'em.

But what are these suckers?

[Tywais]

Thais call the "marang maow" or drunk bugs. They are termites is my understanding and they are a bother if you forget to turn the lights off and shut the door when they come out.

The aftermath of not turning the porch light off.

[Johpa]

Maeng Mao are termites that spawn once a year, usually soon after the first heavy rains. In the forested hill areas, such as where I have a home outside of Chiang Mai, they spawn by the millions, most spawning during a single day. They literally fill the air and carpet the ground. It does make for an interesting if rather unpleasant day as you can not really open your mouth to eat during the onset. But they are quite harmless. Watch the dragonflies attack and feat upon them.

[DP25]

I'm not sure what yours are but I get something similar here in Bangkok. Live near the river, every spring there is some kind of flying bug that loses its wings that gets in to my apartment. They can crawl through even the smallest hole. I'm forced to duct tape my balcony door and windows to keep them out.

[Gladiator]

Not sure of it is Muang Meow or the larger insects which come a little late after rain - but the girls in my office consider these delicasies, as do my neighbours, and run around with large fish neys to collect them. Later eat them or sell them to markets

[katana]

If they are MALAENG MAO (winged termites) as was mentioned, apparently they're eaten in many cultures because they're quite nutritious with a good store of fat and protein. Being attracted to lights, they're easily caught with nets.

Came across this Thai saying, แมลงเม่าบินเข้ากองไฟ - lit. winged termites fly into the fire — which means to act on impulse or recklessly.

[garyh]

Tell your Thai neighbours, they will gladly clean them up and cook them.

[David006]

yup....tons of 'em..we have had the big ones and the small ones have now arrived ( wife says can't eat small ones)... they are a royal pain...I put out a light away from the house which reduces the number trying to enter considerably but trying to read by the light of the rangehood is a challenge...just a fact of life here in LOS....probably make good compost.

Biggest issue.....the odd dead ones that you miss in the house attract ants!... And trying to sweep up the wings is practically impossible as they fly everyplace... gotta use a shopvac..

[Scully]

Make sure you clean up the wings because a first you have a termite problem and then you have an even bigger ant problem:ermm:.

[NaiGreg]

My wife and I were enjoying a nice meal in a garden restaurant near our home when the last malaeng-mao attack commenced. It was disturbing. The staff scrambled to turn off all the lights and we finished our lovely meal by moonlight. The soup did seem a little more crunchy after that but as we could not see anything it was still delicious

[CHdiver]

Did watch Thais catching them out of the air and eat them. Aroi they told me.

[Donnyboy]

Did watch Thais catching them out of the air and eat them. Aroi they told me.

cant get fresher than that

[JusMe]

Somehow I can't fathom eating them - the wings alone would catch between my teeth. Worse than spinach!

Those are the bugs, and I know they're harmless, just incredibly annoying.

I rather thought my couch gecko would clean up last night, but maybe too much even for him, and he couldn't invite his buddies around for a feast. (He's a little one living under my living room couch - kinda friendly.)

And those bodies do attract the ants. Swarm around a couple of bodies while I was sweeping up this morning. Those fluttering wings do need the vacuum.

As they're a kind of termite, hope they won't be infesting the wood in my house or deck.

[bungalow1969]

I got in to bed last night around midnight and was watching TV when my girlfriend joined me about 30 minutes later. After chatting for about 10 minutes my girlfriend went to shower but when she opened the bedroom door, thousands of these things swarmed the room. First experience for me as new to Thailand and it was quite an experience!! It took us around 3 hours to hoover as much of them up as possible and we were still finding lots of them crawling around this morning! We had no doors or windows open, no lights on downstairs, only hall and and bedroom light ustairs but yet thousands of these things appeared in that 10 minute period that my girlfriend was in the bedroom with me. Harmless or not, they are a pain in the ass big time!! My girlfriend told me this is the 4th time this has happened to her in the last 6 weeks!! Is there no deterrent for these horrible things??

[trainman34014]

Wifey's Sister collects them with nets and sells them at the market. She gets very annoyed because I don't bother collecting them in my village! In the mornings the birds all come down on the road to feed on the corpses as they are high in nutrition.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Thais call the "marang maow" or drunk bugs. They are termites is my understanding and they are a bother if you forget to turn the lights off and shut the door when they come out.

They're แมลงเม่า , not เมา. So 'drunk' is not a correct translation.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Anyway, when they're swarming around you then keep your calm and stay very still.

A couple bites usually aren't deadly.

(Use the above line of visiting newbies. Excellent results.)

[bungalow1969]

I just dont get how so many can get in to a house in such a short period of time when all the windows, doors curtains etc were closed and only light on was the upstairs landing where they turned up in the thousands within a 10 minute period!! had to buy a new vacum today as I think I burned out the motor on my girlfriends old one last nigh sucking all them things up!! I can deal with general mozzies and other bugs but not them things on the scale they came in last night, sod that on a regular basis!!

[daoyai]

Set a pan of water directly under a light, they will be attracted to the reflection, fall in the water and can be easily collected, no mess.

[canopy]

Deep rains seems to be a trigger to bringing them out. The birds absolutely go nuts when a bloom begins. I love watching the giant feeding frenzy with birds diving and swooping like there's no tomorrow. So for a natural solution, if you provide habitat for birds in your area they can do an amazing job on them by day. I imagine bats at night in sufficient numbers would also decimate them. Otherwise you learn real quickly: when the first one appears, light's off and house closed.

[Lantern]

A large bowl of shallow water with a supported "Tea Candle" in it. turn off the lights and go to bed. They will fly into the candle, burn off their wings and drown in the water.

Been doing this for years.

[loong]

Deep rains seems to be a trigger to bringing them out. The birds absolutely go nuts when a bloom begins. I love watching the giant feeding frenzy with birds diving and swooping like there's no tomorrow. So for a natural solution, if you provide habitat for birds in your area they can do an amazing job on them by day. I imagine bats at night in sufficient numbers would also decimate them. Otherwise you learn real quickly: when the first one appears, light's off and house closed.

I didn't know that these things swarmed during the day as well. I've only ever seen them when it's dark.

We've had them the last 2 nights, tho not so many last night. Just as well as most of the lizards were obviously so full that they couldn't be bothered to eat them.

So the villagers are feasting on the Maeng mao and also the frogs that they attracted.

We've still got wings all over the place. Clear them up and the slightest puff of wind dislodges them from ledges or whatever, so it almost seems a waste of time. I find that a very slightly damp mop is best on tiled floors.

[1bbcd5]

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