Species Culex pipiens - Northern House Mosquito

PIP-ee-yenz

Adult: Mostly plain light brown, lacking distinctive markings on the proboscis, legs, and wings; top of thorax lacks pale spots; female has pale whitish dorsal band at base of each abdominal segment

Larva: Moderately long siphon with 6-13 pecten teeth on basal third, 4-branched siphonal tufts (one of which is inserted laterally and not aligned with other three), and double-branched lateral setae on abdominal segments three and four

Northern United States above 36 degrees latitude, and Southern Canada

Larvae develop in standing water, often in small containers such as bird baths, barrels, used tires, tin cans, etc. around urban and suburban homes.

Adults occur in these areas, with females taking bloodmeals at night, and sometimes entering homes in the fall in search of a sheltered place to overwinter.

Adults occur from late spring through late fall.

Adult females usually take blood from birds but may also feed on mammals (including humans and dogs); a bloodmeal is usually required for the development of eggs, but some populations are able to develop eggs without a bloodmeal - a process called autogeny

males do not bite; both sexes feed on plant juices.

Overwinters as a fertilized adult female in sheltered areas such as culverts, caves, basements, crevices in hidden areas of homes and other buildings; multiple generations per year; a female may lay a "raft" of several hundred eggs on the surface of standing water several times during a life span of 40-50 days.

This is the most important vector of West Nile Virus and Eastern Equine Encaphalitis in the Northern United States and Southern Canada.