Woodsy Lore about
creatures studied in
Room 210
Natural History. Many
mosquitoes lay their eggs in small bodies of water, where
larvae develop. These container habitats include:
water-filled treeholes, water that accumulates predictably
in a variety of plants (e.g. pitcher plants, bamboo shoots,
bromeliads, and leaf axils within some plants), snail
shells, crab holes, and various habitats of human origin
(tires, flower pots, cemetery urns, rain gutters and
downspouts).
We focus on larvae occupying treeholes and tires. Treehole
habitats are occupied by a variety of insects, including a
guild of filter-feeding and browsing larval forms of
Ochlerotatus, Anopheles and Orthopodomyia
mosquitoes, shown here. The filter-feeders consume
bacteria, fungi and protozoans, and detritus. Some of these
moquitoes have preferences for treeholes in particular
locations on trees, or with particular characteristics of
fluid and structure. In discarded tires found in forested
situations in the Northeast, the community is similar to
the treehole community, except that Anopheles and
Orthopodomyia are not usually present, and
Culex larvae are more common.
