Insects and arachnids of medical importance for being hematophagous, at least in some species, include the sandfly, blackfly, tsetse fly, bedbug, assassin bug, mosquito, tick, louse, mite, midge, and flea.
It inhabits small rivers and creeks and rocky pools where it feeds on the larvae of blackflies and midges, immature stages of caddisflies and mayflies, and cladocerans and copepods.
Extensive networks of waterways must be treated with insecticide since blackflies have the ability to fly with the wind for several hundreds of kilometers.