Subject: Baffled by Big Black Bug
Location: Beaverton, OR
April 26, 2014 7:41 pm
Daniel,
Just in case it’s interesting, here’s another picture from the same excursion of a tiny critter we found in a pond. My “Pond Life” book leads me to believe it’s not a larva but a mosquito pupa. I had no idea that pupas could be free swimming, lively animals as opposed to motionless inside a cocoon!
Thank you again,
Laura
Hi Laura,
Thank you for sending in your excellent image of a Mosquito Pupa, or Tumbler as it is sometimes called. Mosquito Pupae are incredibly mobile, and they are also capable of sensing danger, tumbling away from the water surface and into the depths. Mosquito Larvae are called Wrigglers because of the way they move through the water, and the tumbling motion of the Pupae led to the common name Tumblers.