Friday Larvae Blogging: Mosquitoes

These are mosquito larvae (click the pic to enlarge) from the family Culicidae. I hate them. Here in the flat rice land in the midsouth U.S. they are overly abundant this time of year, and most sober people don't spend much time outdoors after dark. The mosquito season did get a late start this year due to unusually dry conditions, but with the first big rain came the onslaught. In this picture you can see how little standing water it takes for the mosquitoes to breed. This pan was sitting under my grill. A few days after a good rain I found it brimming with these larvae, also known as wigglers or wrigglers. So I took these pictures and this video (1.83 mb 5 sec) and then happily dumped them in the sun to dry and die. Here is more information about the mosquito and its life cycle.

Don't forget to check out Modulator's Friday Ark.