mosquito on steroids?

ilovebugs

Arachnobaron
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Jun 15, 2004
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I just came in from my girlfriends house alittle while ago, and found a giant mosquito on the side of my house. it was attracted to the light I suppose.

Before anyone asks, this is not a crane fly, I have been around those all my life and this is not one.
this seems to be a mosquito that drank the blood of Rambo or Gov. Swartzenager(sp) or just some other body builder on 'roids.

it's shaped just like your avg. mosq. only he's... built. bigger body, legs. he's kinda black or she I guess (isn't it the females that don't have fuzzy antenne?)

I live in North Alabama if that helps anyone, and if you need me to, I can take a pic. I've got it in a test tube so it's not going anywere unless it spits acid or something ;-)

thanks for any identification ideas.
 

G. Carnell

Arachnoemperor
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Oct 27, 2003
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Hi
i did some work experience thing on Mosquito larvae, and there are lots of variations in size, one genus i remember was called Culex, quite large ones

there was another species they kept which was large and the woman who had to sacrifice her arm feeding them said "you can really feel it"


good luck getting pics
 

Ron_K

Arachnopeon
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May 12, 2004
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Most likey what you are seeing is a crane fly, which looks like a mosquito but is about 10-15 times as large.
 

spydrhunter1

Arachnolord
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What about the genus Toxorhynchites ? They are really large mosquitoes. Interesting group because neither males of females blood feed.. The probosis is shaped like a sheperds hook.
 

Code Monkey

Arachnoemperor
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Mostly likely a crane fly, family tipulidae, as someone else mentioned. Body plan is identical to a mosquito but it's much, much larger.
 

Fluid Filter

Arachnoknight
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ilovebugs said:
Before anyone asks, this is not a crane fly, I have been around those all my life and this is not one.
It's gotta be a crane fly ;)
Pic?
 

ilovebugs

Arachnobaron
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this is a bad shot, but it shows that odd shaped thorax that mosquitos have.





ok. and here's a pic of a crane fly for those that don't know.
 

Galapoheros

ArachnoGod
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ilovebugs said:

this is a bad shot, but it shows that odd shaped thorax that mosquitos have.





ok. and here's a pic of a crane fly for those that don't know.
I found two of those in my house a month or two ago. I could here it flying around 10 feet away in my bathroom. I was impressed with them too and took several pictures. None came out very good but here's one of them. This may not be the same species as the one you found. This one has iridescent blue on parts of the body. Interesting for a mosquito.
 

DavidRS

Arachnoknight
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That looks like some type of assassin bug to me (the one in the test tube).
 

misfitsfiend

Arachnobaron
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I believe its a mosquito for one reason

one day after watching my dogs outside at night, i came in and felt an itch on my back. and then .... the beast flew out of my shirt! it was huge! and it had just sucked a pint of my blood(exhadgeration). so then, i wasnt going to let it get away that easy .... I fed it to one of the black widows i had just received.

It was at least the size of a nickle.
 

ilovebugs

Arachnobaron
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misfitsfiend said:
I believe its a mosquito for one reason

one day after watching my dogs outside at night, i came in and felt an itch on my back. and then .... the beast flew out of my shirt! it was huge! and it had just sucked a pint of my blood(exhadgeration). so then, i wasnt going to let it get away that easy .... I fed it to one of the black widows i had just received.

It was at least the size of a nickle.
thats kinda cool. so your widow kinda... drank your blood huh?
my mom flips out whenever she finds that I've been keeping a widow or brown recluse...
 

Wade

Arachnoking
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It might be the Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, a relitively recent import (they are thought to have arrived in the US inside some old tires that were on a ship through a port in Texas). They now occur throughout the southeast.

Wade
 

ilovebugs

Arachnobaron
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Wade said:
It might be the Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, a relitively recent import (they are thought to have arrived in the US inside some old tires that were on a ship through a port in Texas). They now occur throughout the southeast.

Wade
http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Animals/mosquitoes/Aedes_albopictus.html

different common name. but I don't think thats it. that one has alot of white spots.

I think he's about to die. He prolly needs a pint of blood per night... freakin vampire.
I'll take more pics if I can get any better.
 

scavenger

Arachnosquire
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It's in the genus Toxorhynchites i believe... they get big... bigger than that... the larvae feed on other Mosquito larvae.
 

ilovebugs

Arachnobaron
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scavenger said:
It's in the genus Toxorhynchites i believe... they get big... bigger than that... the larvae feed on other Mosquito larvae.
I think you are closest.

I googled that and so far this is the closest thing I've seen.
 
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