Gnat

For other uses, see Gnat (disambiguation) and Gnats (disambiguation).
"Knat" redirects here. For the television station, see KNAT-TV. For the town in Lebanon, see Qnat.
Gnat from Robert Hooke's Micrographia, 1665
A female black fungus gnat

A gnat (/ˈnæt/) is any of many species of tiny flying insects in the dipterid suborder Nematocera, especially those in the families Mycetophilidae, Anisopodidae and Sciaridae.[1] Most often they fly in large numbers, called clouds. "Gnat" is a loose descriptive category rather than a phylogenetic or other technical term, so there is no scientific consensus on what constitutes a gnat. Some entomologists consider only non-biting flies to be gnats.[1] Certain universities and institutes also distinguish eye gnats: the Smithsonian Institution describes them as "non-biting flies, no bigger than a few grains of salt, ... attracted to fluids secreted by your eyes".[2]

  1. ^ a b "Midges and Gnats | Entomology". entomology.ca.uky.edu. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
  2. ^ Gibbons, John. "Gnats Always Keep an Eye Out for a Good Place to Eat". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2018-01-21.