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Mosquite Larvae

On November 10, 2012 · Category: Mosquito Tagged With: Aquatic Bugs · Add Comment

Backyard water larvae
Location: Highland Park, Los Angeles, CA
November 9, 2012
Daniel,
I found these larvae in a kitty litter pan that had been left out in the rain a couple times. Any guesses?
Thanks,
Josh
(your neighbor in Highland Park)

Mosquito Larvae

Hi Josh,
You have Mosquito Larvae. You should not keep standing water in your yard as Mosquitoes can multiply with amazing speed if conditions are right. Cooler weather results in a slower maturity rate.

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Advice on Repelling Mosquitoes needed

On February 1, 2012 · Category: Mosquito · Add Comment

Cambodian missionaries being eaten by mosquitoes
January 31, 2012 11:23 pm
Hi! My best friend and her family recently moved to Cambodia to minister and care for the street kids there (specifically children being held as sexual slaves)…apparently, word is out in the mosquito community that tasty Americans have moved in, because they (especially her children) are being eaten alive. She said there were around 20 of them under her two year old’s mosquito net tonight. They are, of course, using repellent, but it doesn’t seem to be helping very much. There are holes in their house so there are LOTS of bugs everywhere. Any ideas on a natural way to make their home comfortable?
Signature: Heather Wilson

male Asian Tiger Mosquito from our archives

Dear Heather,
Since you did not provide us with a photo to illustrate your question, we have found a photo of a male Asian Tiger Mosquito from our archives. It should be noted that male Mosquitoes, which can be distinguished by their bushy antennae, do not bite. The females of the species are the blood suckers. We do not have any advice regarding repelling Mosquitoes, though there are many commercial products available. Perhaps one of our readers will be able to provide some comments to this posting and you may be able to relay that information to the Cambodian missionaries.

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Asian Tiger Mosquito

On November 3, 2011 · Category: Mosquito Tagged With: Invasive Exotics · Add Comment

What is this bug?
Location: Manassas VA
November 2, 2011 8:55 pm
I need your help. What is this cool bug?
Signature: Tom K

Male Asian Tiger Mosquito

Hi Tom,
Your insect is the introduced Asian Tiger Mosquito. According to BugGuide: “The Asian tiger mosquito is an invasive and aggressive species that was introduced to the United States during the mid-1980s. It was first collected in Texas in 1985, apparently having traveled from Asia in a shipment of used tires. These mosquitoes are vicious biters and have been known to transmit disease.” Unlike most Mosquitoes, the Asian Tiger Mosquito is a diurnal species that will bite during daylight hours. According to BugGuide: “Adult females feed on the blood of birds, humans, and domestic & wild mammals.” The antennae indicate that your individual is a non-biting male.

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Tumbler: AKA Mosquito Pupa

On July 29, 2011 · Category: Mosquito Tagged With: Aquatic Bugs · Add Comment

pics I sent a couple days ago
Location: Strong City, Kansas
July 29, 2011 2:04 pm
Well, whaddya know. I dumped the pool, but had a few specimens in a cup in the house which I had collected so I could photograph them. 2 days later their little skins are floating limp in the water, while 3 sweet little baby mosquitos are on the side of the cup, patiently waiting for someone to open it and set them free. They have white stripes on their legs. As larvae, they looked so different from the mosquito larvae I know that I thought they were something else. Anyway, thanks for all the stuff you do.
Signature: prairiecricket

Tumbler: Mosquito Pupa

Dear prairiecricket,
Mosquito Larvae are frequently called Wrigglers, and the Pupae are called Tumblers because of the manner in which they move through water. This is a Tumbler or Mosquito Pupa, which may explain why it looks different from the Mosquito Larvae you are familiar with. Based on your description and location, your Mosquitoes may have been Asian Tiger Mosquitoes, Aedes albopictus, which you may view on BugGuide.

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Probably Japanese Rock Pool Mosquito

On October 31, 2010 · Category: Mosquito Tagged With: Invasive Exotics · 3 Comments

Mosquito

Mosquito
Location: Mid-Missouri
October 30, 2010 11:50 pm
I finally lucked out. I have been wanting to get a shot of a mosquito for awhile and never can. Maybe it’s just me, but I can not just grab my gear and take a photo while they feed on me. I rarely see them other than getting squished on my arm for being invasive. Anyway, onto this girl (I believe it to be a female based on the antennae…do you agree?), I saw this one hanging out on my son’s outdoor playhouse. Talk about accommodating…. she just sat there while I took multiple shots from different angles. I was even able to do some handheld focus stacking which was very helpful. I was so grateful that I didn’t even squash the potentially highly disease/virus carrying insect when I was done. I just let her go on her way to bite me another day. (for the record….mosquitos are about the only insect that I have no problem with killing due to their feeding habits and virus/disease tendencies)
As for ID. I am at a 100% loss beyond the Family Culicidae (Mosquito). If you could give me any help as to the Genre or even Species…I’d be extremely grateful.
Signature: Nathanael Siders

Mosquito

Hi Nathanael,
We too are at a loss as to the species identification of this Mosquito. Perhaps one of our readers will be able to supply a conclusive species identification.

Mosquito

Karl does some research
Hi Daniel and Nathanael:
Whenever I see a mosquito with distinctive white markings, particularly the “white knees”, I automatically think of Aedes sp. My family spent a few years in Papua New Guinea many years ago and we were taught to recognize the key disease carrying types of mosquitoes, including Aedes aegypti, which is a vector for dengue fever and yellow fever (this is not A. aegypti, although that introduced species has apparently been recoded in Missouri). The white markings and the pointed abdomen means that this mosquito belongs to one of two genera, Aedes or Psorophora, and based on a number of characteristics I am inclined to go with Aedes. By the way, Nathanael, your photos are really excellent and I am sure that any mosquito expert (and I am not one) would be able to give you a positive ID based on them. Apparently, there have been approximately two dozen Aedes species recorded in Missouri, including both native and introduced species, so I am going out on a limb a little by saying I believe yours is A. japonicus, the non-native Japanese Rock Pool Mosquito. You can access a 2000 paper by McCauley et al. that provides an annotated list of all the mosquitoes of Missouri, although it predates the discovery of A. japonicus in your state. In addition to the arrangement of white spots on the body and legs, the pattern of stripes on the thorax is quite distinctive. Aedes japonicus, an East Asian species, was first reported in the northeastern USA in 1998 and it has been spreading rapidly ever since; to 29 states and Canada by early 2010. It is a relatively new invasive species and a potential disease vector so there is quite a lot of online information. By the way, the species appears to be undergoing a taxonomic revision as many recent reports use the generic name Ochlerotatus instead of Aedes. I hope this helps.
This is an excellent response and thank you so much for all the info. I looked on bugguide.net and couldn’t find an ID at all…..they actually don’t even have a section for Aedes japonicfus as well as many other Aedes species found in Missouri that you listed. I will bookmark your links to use as a reference in the meantime and have contacted bugguide.net about having one of their experts look at the images and consider making a guide page for them.
Thank you again. I particularly appreciate the background info on the Genera and species. I’m always interested to know as much about the insects I shoot as possible.
Nathanael Karl

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Gallinipper Mosquito

On August 16, 2010 · Category: Mosquito · 2 Comments

Gallinipper Mosquito
Location: Kendall County, Illinois
August 16, 2010 12:37 pm
I believe that this is the Psorophora ciliata, or Gallinipper Mosquito. It seems to be an aggressive day biter. I thought you might like the photo. We live in Northern Illinois and this is the first year I have noticed these. We have had a ridiculous amount of rain this year though.
Stacy C

Gallinipper

Hi Stacy,
As we just noted in the immediately preceeding posting, we love getting preidentified insects that would be time consuming for us to research. We are linking to the BugGuide page on the Gallinipper which indicates this “large mosquito” has a diet that includes “Males and females feed on nectar, females said to seek bloodmeals from large mammals. Females bloodfeed day and night and are able to bite through heavy clothing.“ The Galveston Mosquito Control website indicates: “It is the largest blood sucking mosquito in the U.S. Commonly referred to as the ‘Shaggy-legged’ Gallinipper. It is easy to identify by its large size and it inflicts a painful bite. Rarely found in large numbers. The larvae are large and are predacious upon other larvae. “ It is also indicated that adults can fly from one to two miles.

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Mosquito Larvae Control

On August 5, 2010 · Category: Mosquito · Add Comment

Mosquito Larvae control
August 3, 2010 2:05 pm
I love your website and am a huge insect fan and I know that you are against the kill of insects but I am not sure how you feel about mosquitos. We have storm drains in our backyard to prevent flooding of our yard and basement. we just returned from a trip to Florida and I have noticed there are mosquito larvae in the storm drains in some water in the drains. I am curious, is there a natural way to dispose of the larvae without polluting the water in the storm drains or hurting killing other insects in the area? Would dish detergent added to water then dumped in the drains do the trick or are more drastic measures needed? any info you can provide me with is greatly apprecatiated and please keep up the great work. i try to preach to friends and family not to squish every bug the see but I feel like I am fighting a losing battle
Ryan Hoffman

Mosquito Larvae

Hi Ryan,
Your situation poses some interesting challenges. In warm weather, Mosquitoes can mature in a very short span of time. Obviously, draining the water is the ideal solution because without the stagnant water habitat, they will not proliferate. Mosquito Fish are used as vector control in many places where there are ponds and other bodies of standing water, but your storm drains do not sound like they would be conducive to supporting vertebrate life. In lieu of not having any natural predators that can eliminate the infestation, we believe your idea to use a mild dish detergent solution should help the situation. As an aside, we are including a photo we recently took of Mosquito Larvae captured in our bird bath. We feed them to our freshwater aquarium fish who gobble them up eagerly, but they must be netted at the source for that to be of any benefit.

Host specific Bacteria to target Mosquito Larvae
mosquito dunks…
Hi Daniel,
Just FYI for the person wanting to kill the mosquito larva…there are mosquito dunks that have a host specific bacteria in them (bti) that feeds on the larva of mosquitoes, but not other beneficial insects. They can be used in ponds as well to keep the mosquito population under control.
From the Valent BioSciences Corp website…
VectoBac®/Bactimos® – VectoBac and Bactimos, naturally occurring larvicides based on Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis, control certain pests from the order diptera. Around the world, VectoBac and Bactimos are routinely used to control populations of mosquito and black fly larvae, which are primarily nuisances in the U.S., but also transmit life-threatening diseases like encephalitis, malaria, dengue and onchocerciasis (river blindness) in other parts of the world. VectoBac and Bactimos have the ability to eliminate 95-100% of all black fly and mosquito larvae – quickly and effectively.
VectoBac and Bactimos are Bti larvicides sold by Valent BioSciences Corporation. Biological testing has shown VectoBac and Bactimos to be two of the most ecologically friendly insecticides in use today. These products kill larvae of mosquitoes but do not adversely affect other wildlife or beneficial insects, or more importantly, people or pets.
Liz

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Bug of the Month May 2010: Mosquito Larvae

On May 1, 2010 · Category: Mosquito Tagged With: Aquatic Bugs, bug of the month · 2 Comments

May 1, 2010
With spring upon us, it might be a good time to take precautions against the unwanted cultivation of Mosquito Larvae. Mosquitoes will proliferate in any body of standing water, including the bird bath, rain barrel, empty tin can, vernal pool, abandoned swimming pool or watering can. At our own Los Angeles offices, we have two bird baths and a few large containers of water we use to water our plants, and they inevitably become the breeding ground for Mosquitoes. Luckily our Angelfish love Mosquito Larvae, so we catch them on a daily basis and feed them to our pets.

Mosquito Larva

The Mosquito Larvae are called Wrigglers because of the way they propel themselves through the water, and the Mosquito Pupae (none visible in these images) are called Tumblers because of their head over breathing tube manner of tumbling through the water. Mosquito Larvae and Pupae gather at the surface of the water with their breathing tubes taking oxygen from the air. As soon as they sense a change in light or movement overhead, they quickly wriggle and tumble to to bottom of the basin where they wait for up to several minutes before returning to the surface. We quickly net them at the surface and then wait for their return before attempting to capture more.

Mosquito Larvae

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Mosquite Larvae

Advice on Repelling Mosquitoes needed

Asian Tiger Mosquito

Tumbler: AKA Mosquito Pupa

Probably Japanese Rock Pool Mosquito

Gallinipper Mosquito

Mosquito Larvae Control

Bug of the Month May 2010: Mosquito Larvae

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