FIELD BOOK OF PONDS AND STREAMS 



Eggs. — The eggs are laid in almost any standing water, a 

 lake, rain barrel, roadside puddle, or in marshes. In some 

 species the eggs hatch very soon, in others not for a long time; 

 probably many common mosquitoes pass the winter in the 

 egg stage, hatching with the first spring warmth. Under 

 favorable conditions our common mosquitoes go through 

 their life cycle from egg to egg-laying adult in a short time. 

 Mosquitoes can get along under difficult conditions of drought, 

 cold, and starvation. They can live virtually anywhere, 

 which accounts for their great numbers and for their wide 

 distribution. 



Pig. 230. — A carnivorous mosquito, the phantom 

 larva, Chaobonis (CoretJira). 



Phantom larvae, Chaoborus (formerly Corethra) . — This is a 

 group of mosquitoes not usually known as such because they 

 do not suck blood. Their larvae are the phantom larvae of 

 glass-like transparency, the only insects which are regularly 

 found in the plankton or floating population of the open 

 water. They are a half inch long, recognizable by the 

 prominent, dark air-sacs, one pair at each end of the body, 

 probably the regulators of their specific gravity (Fig. 230). 

 Phantom larvas are predacious, using their antennae to grasp 

 their prey, mainly entomostracans and rotifers. 



Fig. 231. — Adult mosquitoes: i, common mosqui- 

 to, Cu'ex, with body held parallel to the surface; 2, 

 malarial mosquito, Anopheles, with body tipped 

 up behind. 



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