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Is It A Mosquito? |
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The needle-like mouth is called a “Proboscis” |
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Thin, delicate legs
Only about the size of a fingernail. |
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Weak fliers, easily blown about. |
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YES |
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YES |
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NO |
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NO |
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NO |
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Midge– no proboscis |
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Cranefly– very large, no proboscis |
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Robberfly– very large, strong fliers, in no way delicate |
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Larvae |
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The larvae live in the water and leave it when they mature about a week after hatching. They rest near the surface, but can quickly swim down to feed or escape. |
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Several different larvae of various maturity levels |
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Mosquitoes lay their eggs in still water or on dry land likely to be flooded. It takes about a week for the larvae to mature to adulthood. |
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Common Mistaken Identities |
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Midge larvae– stay at surface, slow, prefer very polluted water |
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Tadpoles– slimy-looking, swim with side-to-side motion, rarely as small as mosquitoes |
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Psychotid larvae– not usually found in large numbers |
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Tidbit– some larvae are predatory and feed on other mosquito larvae. There are 2 such species in this area. One is Ps. ciliata, AKA gallinippers. They are rather unpleasant as the adults grow to the size of a thumbnail and deliver painful bites. The other is toxorhynchites which is very large but the adults are vegetarians. |
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toxorhynchites with its favorite meal |
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Larvae amongst leaf litter in a tire |
