Saltpool mosquito
The saltpool mosquito is a sturdy grey mosquito that lives only in New Zealand. Its babies grow up in salty rock pools by the sea, where the waves splash. Its hairy body does not mind getting soaked.
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Fun facts
Its babies can live in water that is very salty or nearly fresh, which few mosquitoes can do.
When it was first described, scientists thought it was a crane fly, not a mosquito.
Its water-repelling hairs let it stay fine even when it gets drenched.
The MΔori word for mosquitoes is naeroa, and this one is a naeroa too.
Most asked questions about Saltpool mosquito
?Where does the saltpool mosquito live?
Only in New Zealand, in rock pools on the coast where the sea spray lands.
?Does the saltpool mosquito bite?
Yes, the grown-ups drink blood, but it is not known to spread illness in nature.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Opifex fuscus
- Named by
- Hutton, 1902
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Culicidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Culicidae
- Lives on
- Australia and Oceania
Where the facts come from
- Opifex fuscus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by (c) Saryu Mae ε ζη, some rights reserved (CC BY). CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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