--- --- # Swarms of Giant Bugs Infest Burning Man Festival ## Video: Overstepping Boundaries: The Danger of Invasive Species [Watch (HLS stream): Overstepping Boundaries: The Danger of Invasive Species](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zHyAT7e9.m3u8) (2:18)  _Published 2013-12-04. What are invasive species, and why are they dangerous? TIME's Bryan Walsh explains how animals like the Asian carp, lionfish, and Burmese python can be a threat._ by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Aug 20, 2015 4:30 PM UTC by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Aug 20, 2015 4:30 PM UTC An outbreak of insects at the Nevada desert festival site was confirmed by the organizers of Burning Man on Tuesday. Reports of the bugs first started surfacing on Twitter, with photos of swarms of bugs covering tires and carpets in Black Rock City. Organizers speculated on the [Burning Man blog](http://blog.burningman.com/2015/08/building-brc/a-second-generation-and-yeah-those-bugs/) that the bugs, once lying dormant in the desert, were hatched by spring and summer rains. Some organizers have reported being bitten. > [](https://twitter.com/CLoungebrc/status/633789214987956224) Entomologist and insect photographer Alex Wild [told Gizmodo](http://gizmodo.com/weve-identified-those-bugs-infesting-burning-man-and-1725287661?dfp%5Fpp%5Fab=on&dfp%5Fdesktop%5Fthree=off&utm%5Fexpid=66866090-43.E9Bjfd6NTuSlXJewu2e%5FIg.1) that the green bugs are probably stink bugs in the family Pentatomidae, while an entomologist Karl Magnacca [chimed in on Twitter](https://twitter.com/kmagnacca/status/634238534203805696) to say the smaller bugs, which have been seen on carpets, are most likely Nysius, or seed bugs. Burning Man organizers hope that the bugs disappear by Aug. 30, when the festival starts, otherwise else they say that they will have to “nuke the city” to get rid of them. Burning Man Infested By Bugs ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4004824/burning-man-bugs/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4004824/burning-man-bugs/"},"headline":"Swarms of Giant Bugs Infest Burning Man Festival","datePublished":"2015-08-20T16:30:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:48:14.127Z","description":"Organizers say they might have to \"nuke the city\" to get rid of them","url":"https://time.com/4004824/burning-man-bugs/","keywords":["Insects","Newsfeed","Burning Man"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/insects/","name":"Insects"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4004824/burning-man-bugs/","name":"Swarms of Giant Bugs Infest Burning Man Festival"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Overstepping Boundaries: The Danger of Invasive Species","description":"What are invasive species, and why are they dangerous? TIME's Bryan Walsh explains how animals like the Asian carp, lionfish, and Burmese python can be a threat.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/zHyAT7e9/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2013-12-04T20:50:46.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zHyAT7e9.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4004824/burning-man-bugs/","duration":"PT2M18S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4004824/burning-man-bugs/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```