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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Flies (Diptera) » "Nematocera" (Non-Brachycera) » Culicomorpha » Mosquitoes (Culicidae)
Photo#161702
Large Mosquito Larva
Copyright © 2007 Stephen Luk

Large Mosquito Larva
Johnston Canyon, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada
August 23, 2007
Size: 10 mm
Here's one for Sean and Omar. In flooded humus-rich trail-side ditch in humid, predominantly pine forest growing along canyon.
At first I thought it was a Toxorhynchites, but that didn't look right after I checked the guide. Seems to be predacious given the large head and mouthparts, though I didn't notice any other mosquito larvae in the habitat. Captured, photographed and released.
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Contributed by Stephen Luk on 20 December, 2007 - 2:05pm

looks like
the larva of an Anopheles mosquito. They don't have siphons and tend to rest flat beneath the water like you have. These guys are mostly filter feeders on floating organic matter. The only other larvae that I know of that are predacious besides Toxorhynchites are some Psorophora (eg. Ps. ciliata.

With a person with lack of experience like me, I would need a closer look at the head and abdominal setae to key this guy out. But I feel like somebody with experience can identify it based on the antennal setae and plumose abdominal setae that we can see from you fantastic photo.
… Omar Fahmy, 21 December, 2007 - 11:06am login or register to post comments

 
Thanks, Omar
Well, I wasn't expecting an Anopheles, but I guess this was nevertheless an exciting find for me. It looked so unlike any other mosquito larvae I have encountered so far!
Thanks for taking a look. Your help is always appreciated.
… Stephen Luk, 22 December, 2007 - 10:32am login or register to post comments

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