Mosquito Lookalikes and How to tell them apart
Mosquitoes are nasty little pests that fly and bite humans for a blood meal. Mosquito bites are painful, relentlessly itchy, and uncomfortable. Their buzzing is enough to drive any camper crazy at night and they often carry and spread unpleasant diseases like Zika and Malaria.
Because of the potential risk of infection from the various viruses carried by the mosquito, it is important that you are able to identify them from their lookalikes.
Mosquitoes have lookalikes but there are several identifying features that can help you identify a mosquito.
- Mosquitoes have a probiscis that females use to draw blood from your skin
- They range in size from 1/4th to 3/8th of an inch
- Their bodies are shaped in an oval and are narrow with a hump
- White stripes across the abdomen
- Long legs
- Up close, mosquitoes have different colored scales that are iridescent, gray, white, silver, green or blue
Despite having various identifying characteristics that can help you determine if you are, in fact, dealing with mosquitoes, many other flying insects look like the dreaded mosquito.
Crane Flies
Crane flies, like mosquitoes, also have long legs and slender bodies. However, if you look more closely, you will see that crane flies are larger than mosquitoes and their faces are longer than a mosquito.
The most distinguishing feature, or lack thereof, is that the crane fly does not have the probiscis that mosquitoes use to draw blood from a bite. Additionally, the crane fly has smoother wings and a straight body, where the mosquito has a humpback appearance.
Mayflies
Mayflies are often found in streams, rivers or other bodies of freshwater. As first glance, you may mistake a mayfly for a mosquito but upon a closer look, you'll notice that they have key differences.
Most notable about the mayfly is that the wings are similar to a butterfly, much longer and more pronounced than the wings of a mosquito. A mayfly has 2 or 3 tails which can also help distinguish it from a mosquito. Mayflies do not bite and actually no longer have a need to feed once they become adults.
Trust MosquitoNix® to protect your outdoor lifestyle
Mosquitoes are drawn to warm, humid areas around stagnant or slow moving water. Mosquitoes breed in water and can carry diseases like Zika and malaria. Identifying and eradicating mosquitoes from your outdoor spaces is important to protect yourself and your family from the risk of infection.
MosquitoNix is trusted by people like you in over 500 cites and 9 countries. Founded in 2003 in Texas, we were the first company to bring mosquito misting systems to residential properties.
Contact us today for permanent, temporary and portable mosquito control options for your home or commercial property. We offer superior customer service, trained and licensed employees and state of the art products and services that are manufactured right here in the United States.
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