Field Guide to Venomous and Medically Important Invertebrates ...

from other mosquitoes by the palps which are as long as the proboscis. Adult Anopheles can also
be identified by their typical resting position where their abdomens point upwards rather than
parallel to the surface on which they are resting. Adults feed exclusively at night.
Figure 185. Anopheles sp. larva. Photo: Richard C. Russell.
Figure 186. Anopheles gambiae adult. Photo: University of Minnesota.
Culex mosquitoes are relatively painful and persistent biters, and they prefer to attack at dusk and
after dark. They will feed on a variety of mammals, but domestic and wild birds usually are
preferred hosts. They are the primary vectors of viruses that cause a number of dangerous
encephalitides. Culex mosquitoes are generally weak fliers and do not move far from their
source habitats. They readily enter human dwellings to rest and feed. Adults may live a few
weeks during the warm summer months, but those females that emerge in late summer search for
sheltered areas where they "hibernate" until spring. Culex will breed in a broad variety of
aquatic habitats, but they prefer water with a high degree of organic enrichment. Some species
are even known to breed and overwinter in the sewer of large eastern cities such as New York.
Figure 187. Culex annulirostris adult. Photo: Richard C. Russell.
Figure 188. Culex quinquefasciatus adult. Photo: Richard C. Russell.
Culiseta mosquitoes are moderately aggressive biters, attacking in the evening hours or in the
shade during the day. Psorophora, Coquillettidia and Mansonia mosquitoes are becoming more
pestiferous as an ever-expanding human population invades their natural habitats. However, all