UNL Ento ID Lab

SHE’S GOT AMAZING EYES!

A large brown horse fly just landed on our door.
This crazy bug guy could never have asked for more!
Seize the insect net and scoop it up real fast!
Chill it in the fridge before the opportunity has passed.
To shoot it with the camera and make its fame go far.
For this one’s got eyes more brilliant than a star,
With glowing rainbow colors that surely will impress.
Ya wanna know the species? Come on, make a guess!.................. Tabanus sulcifrons.

BLOOD-SUCKING MOSQUITOES HAVE THEIR OWN ANNOYING PARASITES.

(This post corrected July 16. Initial identification of a Culex mosquito was incorrect. Thanks Braden Wojahn for the ID. So, the mosquito's biology has been radically changed as well.)

This image of a Tree-Hole Mosquito, Aedes triseriatus*, shows 12 bright red, oval "blobs" attached to the underside of its body. These are the larval form of water mites (Hydrachna species), a group of mites that live as predators and parasites in lakes, ponds, swamps, stock tanks, old barrels, and even tree holes filled with water. They feed on small crustaceans, aquatic insects and worms.

This tree-hole mosquito is serving as their host, not only for a meal, but also for transport to another tree hole or water-filled cavity in a forested habitat. Imagine the extra payload it must carry as it flies about.

Just hours before, the six-legged larvae (nymphs and adults have eight legs) attached themselves securely to the mosquito as it emerged from the water. They are feeding on it, digesting the blood from its body, called hemolymph. What a way to fly!

The mosquito is actively seeking its own animal host from which to draw a blood meal and draw nourishment for its own body and the eggs that are forming within. It later flies into a tree hole and deposits its eggs on the surfaces above the water. The mites, of course, detach and drop into the water to grow and prosper in a new location.

Pretty clever, isn't it? And a form of justice, I would say, for all the trouble mosquitoes cause us. "Why are the mites bright red?", you may ask. Well, generally in the world of entomology, bright red means to predators, "I taste bad!", or "I will hurt you if you mess with me!" And of course it may or may not be true.

(*Note: Aedes triseriatus is also known as Oclerotatus triseriatus.)