Large mosquitoes with long legs (Cans)
Insect features
A big mosquito with long legs is called a centipede for a reason:
- The business card of the insect is its very long due to the legs of the limb. In this connection, the length of the body together with the legs can reach 6 cm. Larger are the inhabitants of the tropical climate, whose body length is up to 10 cm.
- The color of the body of large dolpenoids is predominantly gray tones; there are also specimens of yellow, dirty brown, greenish color. There are representatives with a red head.
- For the rest mosquito structure typical for all members of this family. The long-legged mosquito has a segmented body consisting of 9-10 divisions. In females, it has an elongated shape, males are distinguished by the presence of a thickening in the upper part of the body.
- On the oblong head are the long antennae with numerous segments.
- Another feature of the centipede are faceted black eyes, sometimes combined with rudimentary eyes. You can examine them in detail by studying mosquito under a microscope.
A huge mosquito is the owner of narrow and transparent wings, in some species they are spotted color. In males, they are much longer than females. The hind wings are represented as short processes that serve as a stabilizer during the flight of an insect (a photo of a large mosquito is presented below).
Interesting!
An interesting fact about mosquitoes was revealed while studying their behavior. Insects are inherent in the phenomenon of self-healing or autotomy: at the time of danger a large mosquito takes off, leaving its foot in the paws or mouth of the offender.
Where is the giant with long legs
Crowns live almost everywhere, with the exception of areas of Antarctica and the Arctic. There is also a large mosquito in Russia (about 400 species). Preference is given to cool and wet places, inhabiting freshwater bodies of water, as well as in swampy and wooded areas. Insects settle in the grass, the crown of trees and shrubs. In the same place or nearby, they lay their eggs, trying to find nearby remains of rotting plants (rotten stumps, last year’s deposits of leaves or coastal mud).
In the afternoon, the giant mosquito is inactive.He shows activity only in the evening, penetrating people's homes through open windows and doors. Insects start flying from mid-July, their maximum number is observed in August.
How the mosquito-breed
The mosquito of the caramora lays its eggs mainly in damp places: in rotting wood, in damp ground, fallen leaves, in water and silt. The female does this with the help of an egg deposit - a special thorn resembling a sting. Bouncing, she sticks her egg deposit into a loose substrate, and then throws eggs covered with a black dense shell into it. At such moments, the female looks like a mosquito with a long tail.
Very soon, from the eggs appear gray or dirty-brown larvae with false legs, a well-developed gnawing apparatus and gills. Their sizes vary depending on the species of the centipede (on average they usually reach 4.5 cm).
On a note!
Externally resembling worms mosquito larvae very voracious. Their favorite delicacies include algae and rotting parts of plants, the roots of garden crops and tree seedlings. Especially a lot of trouble brings the larva of the centipede garden.It is she who more than other species gnaws the roots of vegetable and berry crops.
In the pupal stage, the future black large mosquito becomes oblong. The pupa crawls out of the moist soil with the help of thorns, which are located in rows across the body on all segments of its torso. Such tentacles-rollers are located even on the pupa head.
At the next stage of development, the larva of the centipede turns into an imago. The body size of such specimens is from 1.6 cm to 4 cm; apparently, they are very similar to adult insects. As the giant looks at all stages, the development can be seen in the photo below.
The whole process of development of future centipedes, depending on the conditions, takes no more than 15-30 days. Eggs laid in September remain to hibernate, awaiting more favorable conditions. During the warm period, the giant mosquitoes have time to reproduce no more than one generation.
What feeds on
The myth is that the bite of a large mosquito is very painful and dangerous. We hurry to reassure those on whom this insect is causing fear: the centipedes do not feed on human blood. Large caramores do not have bristles that could pierce the skin. Therefore, they cannot physically bite a person.
Important!
If a big mosquito bit, then most likely it was malaria view. The red mosquito is a sated female. Her bite is a danger to the victim if the previous victim of the bloodsucker was a person suffering from malaria.
The mosquito is fed by a millworm with exclusively dew and nectar of flowers. Giant larvae use vegetation residues as food. Sometimes they can use and live plants, just as it does weevil beetlethan do great harm to agriculture.
To the harmful representatives of this family are marsh, cabbage and autumn creeping. They tend to get rid of them in the process of growing cereals, legumes, and berry crops. For this reason, the giants have another name: the herbal mosquito or the fruit mosquito. Some species of large mosquitoes do not need food at all; their main function at the end of the pupal stage is only reproduction.