Hawaiian Insects

Toxorhynchites brevipalpis, a predatory, non-biting mosquito introduced in an attempt to control biting mosquitos. Unfortunately they never really took off and it's fairly rare to see them. But when you do, they're quite a striking sight - they're big (the body is over half an inch long, and the span of the legs is close to an inch), metallic blue, strong fliers, and make a buzz similar to a regular mosquito but audible from at least five feet away. Two of them kept coming back to a particular paperbark tree near the start of the Kaluaa trail (a pretty dry area) for some reason.

Created on

Tuesday 21 July 2015

Posted on

Sunday 24 January 2016

File

Toxorhynchites brevipalpis Kaluaa 6536.jpg

Filesize

270 KB

Tags

Culicidae, Diptera, Hawaiian alien arthropods, Honouliuli FR, Kaluaa Gulch, Oahu, Toxorhynchites, Toxorhynchites brevipalpis, Waianae Range

Visits

4221

Rate this photo