Toxorhynchites rutilus: Mosquitoes Controlling Mosquitoes

Music by Ice Paw--"arctic"
Toxorhynchites is a genus of mosquito that is predacious in the larval stage. Larvae are found in both natural and manmade containers (like treeholes, tires, buckets, trash, etc.) Disease vectors like Aedes aegypti often occupy the same habitat as Toxorhynchites. They have the ability to consume every single larva in a given habitat during larval development. It is for this reason that they have been considered worldwide as a form of biological control. However, due to their predatory nature they are also highly cannibalistic, and this can make their colonization difficult. Usually only a single larvae will mature into adulthood in each container where several eggs are laid.




Females also have an interesting egg-laying style of hovering and flinging their eggs. Often, this leads to lower rates of colonization than would be desired for biological control. Still, there have been many attempts to use this genus of mosquito as a natural means of controlling potentially disease-carrying mosquito species like Ae. aegypti around the world. Due to their unique larval behavior, large size, and benign adult behavior (both males and females feed only on nectar), this genus is sure to be a favorite of mosquito entomologists in years to come.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Toxorhynchites
• rutilus
• feeding
• predacious
• mosquito
• larvae
• instar
• bugg-z
• productions
• vector
• control
• brown
• swamp
• container
• breeding
• elephant
• ice
• paw

[HoverTime]

Excellent biological control

[makoenergy23]

Keep'em coming... VC! Hasta la muerte!!!