Mosquitoes - Family Culicidae
This page contains pictures and information about Mosquitoes that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
- Body length 5mm
- Mosquitoes could be the most encountered insects when we go for bush-walking and taking insect photos. They usually found us first before we found them. However, only a few species of mosquitoes suck human blood. Some species suck blood from other vertebrate animals, such as birds, reptiles and frogs. Some species do not suck blood at all.
- For those blood-sucking species, only the females suck blood. They require a blood meal before their eggs can mature. They suck blood using their elongated mouth-parts to pierce the host's skin. Males do not suck blood and usually have the slender body.
- The mosquitoes can be distinguished from flies of other families by their scales on wing veins. Most of them also possess a long piercing proboscis.
- Their larvae are all aquatic. The slightest accumulation of water after rain suffices for some species.
- Dengue Mosquito
- Stegomyia egypti, subfamily CULICINAE, body length 4mm
- This is one of the common mosquito that we encountered during bush-walking. It can be the carrier of Dengue Fever. It will come to you and suck your blood during any time during day, in sunny or shaped area. Please check this page for more information.
- Grey-striped Mosquito
- Ochlerotatus vittiger , subfamily CULICINAE, body length 6mm
- We have only this piece of information about mosquitoes in our web site, although they were the most often encountered insects when we were in the bush looking for other insects.
- Reference:
- 1. Ochlerotatus vittiger - The Grey-striped Mosquito - Insects of Townsville, Australia - Graeme Cocks, 2004
- Mosquito
- ? sp., subfamily CULICINAE, body length 6mm
- Predatory Mosquito
- Toxorhynchites speciosus, Subfamily TOXORHYNCHITINAE, body length 12mm
- We some time found this fly resting on leaf or tree trunk. Its wing patterns mimic a head on its end tip. This is quite a large mosquito. Notice its plumose bushy antenna, this shows that the mosquito is a male. More information and pictures please click on here.
- Reference:
- 1. Insects of Australia - CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University Press, 2nd Edition 1991, p743.
- 2. Insects of Australia and New Zealand - R. J. Tillyard, Angus & Robertson, Ltd, Sydney, 1926, p350.
