Hatching mosquito eggs and larval identification
Hello and Happy August! My favorite time of the year because the end of the summer is hot and dry which is perfect weather for being outside and enjoying nature. Anyway, here is a picture of me in the lab counting the mosquito eggs at the microscope. (It has been very wet and rainy throughout July. I just wish it was sunny outside, but its okay being in the lab too!) Over the past few weeks, I have been doing more with the egg collection from the ovitraps and hatching the mosquitoes in the incubation closet. Once the larvae are a 3rd or 4th instar (largest larval size before pupation), I can look at them under the microscope and identify the mosquito species. The most common (I have found) and easiest to spot is Ochlerotatus japonicus (JAP) because the siphonal tuft is within the pecten teeth on the siphon (used to breathe air at the water's surface) and there are many bunches of hair on the head capsule of the larva. Image of the siphon of an Oc. japonicus larva with the