I found some larvae on my Culex oviposition traps and observed them to be predatory to other mosquito larvae as well as cannibalistic to other of its instars. The larva is slightly larger than of common mosquitoes but smaller than Toxorhynchites. Could not produce a clearer pic as of the moment. Thank you!
First by looking at your photo I'd say you have a Corethrella sp. and not a mosquito. They are predatory and fairly closely related to mosquitoes. You might email Art Borkent in Canada about your specimens. He recently revised the family worldwide and I bet you have a new species.
In terms of mosquitoes certainly the genus Lutzia or subgenus Culex (Lutzia) depending on the taxonomist has many predatory species. It is hard to tell about your photo but I still bet it is a Corethrella sp.
Corethrela are interesting because the females feed on frog blood and are attracted to frog calls.
that's really an amazing biology Dr. Reeves! Thank you!
I have not heard any of those being studied here. I will try to produce a clearer picture, but I will look up Corethrella for the meantime and find Art Borkent for the confirmation. Really big help here!
Usually fourth instar larvae of most mosquitoes are predacious to first and second instars.
Yes I have ever observed Culex (Lutzia) tigripes larvae collected from the wild feeding on other culicine and anopheline larvae. They are well adapted for this predatory behavior. However what you have here looks very different from C(L) tigripes.
Dear Justine ,
Did you identify the mosquito species of this larvae? Last week, I could also find few larvae almost similar to your photograph and they were identified as Lutzia fuscanus. Most probably, these larvae can also be the larvae of Lutzia fuscanus. However, this species has already been identified as a good predator of vector mosquitoes in Sri Lanka. Article Predatory Efficacy of Culex (Lutzia) Fuscanus on Mosquito Ve...
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