Mosquitoes Feeding on a Frog

Abstract

In the spring of 1957, Mr. K. J. Crawford, Gananoque, Ontario, took some interesting photographs of some mosquitoes that were feeding on a frog. With Mr. Crawford's kind permission, we reproduce one of these photographs (Fig. 1). This photograph was taken among the reeds of a swampy depression a few miles north of Marnlora, Ontario. As it was taken early in the season, April 26 to be exact, the mosquitoes had probably overwintered as adults. They attacked the frog fiercely, but did not bother the photographer. The mosquitoes can not be identified with certainty from the photograph, but they probably belong either to the genusCulexor the genusCuliseta. The evidence suggests that they areCulex territansWalker. This species probably overwinters in the adult stage in Ontario, is a known amphibian feeder, and is not believed to attack man (Carpenter and LaCasse, 1955).