{"id":14319,"date":"2015-05-31T07:00:10","date_gmt":"2015-05-31T11:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/?p=14319"},"modified":"2015-06-05T14:43:50","modified_gmt":"2015-06-05T18:43:50","slug":"monster-mosquitoes-syringes-with-wings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/2015\/05\/31\/monster-mosquitoes-syringes-with-wings\/","title":{"rendered":"The “Gallinipper” mosquito–a syringe with wings"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Psorophora<\/a>

Psorophora ciliata, the “Gallinipper” up close and personal. Photo: Ben Seese<\/a>, Creative Commons, some rights reserved<\/p><\/div>\n

Despite the fact that the weather has been drier than average, we still have a respectable crop of mosquitoes in New York’s North Country. It seems that way every year, doesn\u2019t it? Really, all it takes is one or two of the little whiners in your tent to spoil a night\u2019s sleep. I\u2019m convinced their ear-buzzing is meant to raise one\u2019s blood pressure so they fill up faster. Makes you wish you could return the favor somehow.<\/p>\n

Well if they actually slept, there is something that would probably keep them up at night: The Mosquito Monster! Or rather, the monster mosquito, Psorophora<\/em> ciliata<\/em> (sore AH fur uh silly AHT uh). In addition to terrorizing campers and picnickers, this hulking menace, which is two to three times the size of\u00a0 most mosquitoes, regularly dines on its lesser kin.<\/p>\n

The cannibalism only goes on in the larval stage, but still, when Psorophora<\/em> ciliata<\/em> touches down, I like to imagine that even full-grown mosquitoes back away slowly, saying hey, this arm\u2019s all yours, buddy. I was just leaving anyway and please don\u2019t eat me, heh, heh.<\/p>\n

It would be comparable to having a 500-pound, eighteen-foot tall biker cut in front of you at the deli. You\u2019d back down, from her, right? Let\u2019s not forget that all those winged vampires are females \u2014 the males are strict vegans who eat flower nectar.<\/p>\n

\"Psorophora<\/a>

Psorophora ciliata next to a penny for size comparison. Photo: Joanna Poe<\/a>, Creative Commons, some rights reserved<\/p><\/div>\n

Not only is it big \u2014 well over an inch long with a 3\/8\u201d wingspan \u2014 this native \u2019skeeter is aggressive and delivers a unusually painful bite. Through the years the monster mosquito has engendered more than a few nicknames, most of which are not fit to print. Dubbed the \u201cgallinipper,\u201d or \u201cshaggy-legged gallinipper\u201d because of its fuzzy appearance, Psorophora<\/em> ciliata<\/em> was described in 1897 by naturalist David Flanery in the journal “Nature” as \u201c\u2026the shyest, slyest, meanest and most venomous of them all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Depending on environmental conditions and the species, mosquitoes live for as little as a week or as much as a few months, but during that time a single fertile female can potentially spawn thousands of progeny. It\u2019s been said many times before, but it\u2019s important to limit standing water to help control the mosquito population. They can breed in just a few ounces of even the filthiest water.<\/p>\n

One \u201cnice\u201d thing that you could say about Psorophora<\/em> ciliata<\/em> is that it isn\u2019t known to transmit disease. There are seventy species of mosquitoes in New York State, and only a few of them can carry diseases such as West Nile virus, or eastern equine encephalitis, which affects horses as well as humans.<\/p>\n

Another plus, of sorts, is the shaggy-legged gallinipper has never become very numerous. In fact, raising Psorophora<\/em> ciliata <\/em>was once proposed as a method of keeping the populations of disease-carrying mosquitoes in check, but no one could figure out how to produce enough gallinippers to create an effective control.<\/p>\n

Whatever the reason they don\u2019t breed like flies, we should all be grateful we are not overrun by monster mosquitoes.<\/p>\n

Paul Hetzler is a horticulture and natural resources educator with Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite the fact that the weather has been drier than average, we still have a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14319"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/102"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14319"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14356,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14319\/revisions\/14356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}