Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
If you've spent any time outdoors in South Georgia during the summer, you know gnats are an unavoidable part of life. But what do you actually know about them? Ranger Nick Fuhrman heads to the University of Georgia's Department of Entomology to spend the day with medical and veterinary entomologist Elmer Gray — and what they find inside the lab is genuinely remarkable.
First stop: the only black fly colony in the world, right here at UGA. For 27 years, researchers have been growing black fly larvae in a system that simulates flowing river water — with approximately 300,000 insect specimens developing in a single runway at any given time. These are the same insects that become the gnats and buffalo gnats South Georgians know all too well, swarming around eyes, ears, and noses every summer.
From there, Ranger Nick and Elmer shift to mosquitoes — discussing how standing water around homes and farms creates breeding grounds, the real risk of West Nile virus and Eastern equine encephalitis for horses, and why vaccination is essential. They also explore a surprisingly simple solution for containers and retention ponds: mosquito fish, an aggressive top-feeding minnow native to the Southeast that devours mosquito larvae — though Gray reassures farm pond owners that their bluegill and bass are already doing that job naturally.
For more, visit the UGA Department of Entomology and check out the Ranger Nick Facebook page.
If you've spent any time outdoors in South Georgia during the summer, you know gnats are an unavoidable part of life. But what do you actually know about them? Ranger Nick Fuhrman heads to the University of Georgia's Department of Entomology to spend the day with medical and veterinary entomologist Elmer Gray — and what they find inside the lab is genuinely remarkable.
First stop: the only black fly colony in the world, right here at UGA. For 27 years, researchers have been growing black fly larvae in a system that simulates flowing river water — with approximately 300,000 insect specimens developing in a single runway at any given time. These are the same insects that become the gnats and buffalo gnats South Georgians know all too well, swarming around eyes, ears, and noses every summer.
From there, Ranger Nick and Elmer shift to mosquitoes — discussing how standing water around homes and farms creates breeding grounds, the real risk of West Nile virus and Eastern equine encephalitis for horses, and why vaccination is essential. They also explore a surprisingly simple solution for containers and retention ponds: mosquito fish, an aggressive top-feeding minnow native to the Southeast that devours mosquito larvae — though Gray reassures farm pond owners that their bluegill and bass are already doing that job naturally.
For more, visit the UGA Department of Entomology and check out the Ranger Nick Facebook page.
