Tuesday 12 March 2013

Gallinippers! Monster Mosquitoes Poised to Strike Florida


Marc Lallanilla, Assistant Editor
Date: 08 March 2013 Time: 05

One of the most ferocious insects you've ever heard of — it's the size of a quarter and its painful bite has been compared to being knifed — is set to invade Florida this summer.
CREDIT: UF IFAS / Sean McCann 
The Sunshine State, already home to man-eating sinkholes, invading Burmese pythonsswarming sharks, tropical storms and other disasters, can expect to see an explosion of shaggy-haired gallinippers (Psorophora ciliata), a type of giant mosquito, according to entomologist Phil Kaufman of the University of Florida.

Gallinipper eggs hatch after a rainstorm or flood, and the state saw a big jump in the numbers of gallinippers last summer after Tropical Storm Debby dumped its load on Florida. Eggs laid last year could produce a bumper crop of the blood-sucking bugs this summer if Florida sees a soggy rainy season.


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