Have you ever seen a golden mosquito?

Some time ago, Dalian Customs in Liaoning captured four yellow midges during a survey of disease vectors at ports. This is the first time they have been captured. According to the Fauna Sinica, yellow midges are distributed in Henan, Shandong, Zhejiang and other provinces in my country and are medium-sized yellow mosquitoes.

How did the yellow mosquito get to Liaoning? Is this mosquito a threat to humans? Let's talk about it today!

01. Why did the yellow mosquito run to Liaoning?

This yellow mosquito is called the yellow mosquito, which also exists in my country, so the situation in Liaoning is more likely to be a migration problem. After all, at this point in time, migratory birds begin to migrate south, and the yellow mosquito likes birds the most, so this is also possible.

Shandong and Liaoning are across the sea from each other and cargo transportation is frequent, so it is not uncommon for it to appear in Liaoning.

For many people, the most important question is whether the mosquito bites people or not? Is it dangerous?

02. Does this mosquito bite?

Generally, the yellow midge mainly bites birds and cattle. However, there are also reports of yellow midges biting humans, mainly when humans enter their habitat.

They occasionally attack humans during daylight hours in shady places when their habitat is entered.

Mosquitoes are insects that carry a lot of parasites, so it cannot be said that they do not pose a threat. For example, some studies have shown that the yellow mosquito can be infected with Malayan brucaria, so we also need to pay attention to the situation in their distribution areas.

All I can say is that the appearance of the mosquito in Liaoning does not require ordinary people to pay too much attention.

03. About the Yellow Mosquito

Many times, we use the word mosquito to refer to something in general, but in fact mosquitoes are a very large family, with more than 3,600 species worldwide.

The yellow midge belongs to the genus Gnaphalium, which is also a large family with 57 species. According to the "Fauna Sinica", the yellow midge is distributed in Henan, Shandong, Zhejiang and other provinces in my country. The wing scales and abdomen of the yellow midge are yellow or golden yellow, and each leg has a brown ring at the end of the femur. It can be found in the grass and reeds near the breeding grounds.

Because the overall number of this type of mosquito is still relatively small, there are relatively few studies on it. I have only seen one study, which was a survey of mosquitoes in Taibai Lake, Jining, Shandong. The results showed that the proportion of local yellow mosquitoes had increased significantly (of course, the main mosquitoes are still Culex pipiens pallens and Culex tritaeniorhynchus).

In fact, in this survey, the data on the yellow mosquito is a bit special in that its number has been increasing since June and reached its peak in September, while the peak number of other mosquitoes is in July or August.

From this we can see that the yellow mosquito may actually have a higher tolerance to temperature than other mosquito species. After all, according to the local climate, September has entered a cooling phase.

Of course, researchers believe that the changes in the number of yellow midges are related to the local water chestnut cultivation, and water chestnuts in Taibai Lake wetland have shown a trend of large-scale cultivation.

In fact, as an insect, its habitat requirements include not only the surrounding environment, but also climatic factors. With climate change in recent years, especially the general warming and increased precipitation in the north, it is possible that the yellow midge will settle in Liaoning and other more northern areas in the future.

ref. Seasonal fluctuations of mosquito vectors in Taibai Lake wetland, Jining City and the effects of two monitoring tools_Huang Xiaodan