Common banded mosquito

Culex annulirostris

Name means: “ringed beak, from the Latin words for ring and bill”

Eats: Blood Flies and mosquitoesPonds, rivers and shores6 legs

The common banded mosquito is a brownish mosquito from Australia and nearby islands. It has a pale ring around the middle of its long, thin mouth, and pale bands on its legs.

Lives in

Australia, New Guinea, Indonesia, the Philippines and Pacific islands

Top speed

about 2 km/h (1.2 mph)

Flying, estimate

Can it hurt you?

Dangerous: look, do not touch

Its bite can pass on germs that make people and animals very sick. Look, do not touch, and tell a grown-up. Nets and insect spray help keep it away.

Watch out! Read how to stay safe on Venom Wiki →

What does it eat?

Only the females drink blood, from mammals and birds, to help make their eggs. The males drink nectar from flowers.

Photo of Common banded mosquito — Picture by John Tann from Sydney, Australia. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

A tortoise about 0.3 km/h (0.19 mph)

Common banded mosquito about 2 km/h (1.2 mph)

A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)

A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)

cool stuff

Fun facts

Its babies grow in almost any still water: swamps, ponds, puddles and even the bottom of an old canoe.

It is busiest at dawn and dusk, but it can also come indoors.

It can fly 5 to 10 kilometres away from the place where it was born.

Scientists think it may really be several look-alike species that are very hard to tell apart.

For bug experts

Scientific name: Culex annulirostris
Named by: Skuse, 1889
Group: Flies and mosquitoes
Family: Culicidae
Classification: Insecta > Diptera > Culicidae
Lives on: Australia and Oceania, Asia

Where the facts come from

Culex annulirostris (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 John Tann from Sydney, Australia. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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