Mosquito (Coquillettidia)

Taxonomic group

Culicidae: Coquillettidia

Diagnostic features

Like other culicids Coquillettidia mosquito larvae have a wide thorax (the widest part of the body) and a breathing siphon at the end of the abdomen, however in Coquillettidia the siphon is short and pointed (used for extracting oxygen from plant stems).

[Coquillettidia] larva. Image: Stephen Moore Image — Coquillettidia larva. Image: Stephen Moore

[Coquillettidia] larva. Plant-piercing siphon. Image: Stephen Moore Image — Coquillettidia larva. Plant-piercing siphon. Image: Stephen Moore

Typical habitats

Coquillettidia larvae can be found attached to plants around the shallow margins of still or slow flowing waters.

Feeding

They are likely to use their brush-like mouthparts to collect floating organic matter or to scrape organic slimes from plant surfaces.

Indicator value

Hard bottom: unassigned; general mosquito value 3
Soft bottom: unassigned; general mosquito value 1.2

The tolerance values (ranging from 0 to 10) give an indication of which are the sensitive taxa (values of 8 or more) and which are the tolerant taxa (values of 3 or less). For more information see: Indicator species

We have little data about the water quality requirements of Coquillettidia. This genus has not been assigned tolerance values, but the family (Culicidae) have values of 3 (hard bottom sites) and 1.2 (soft bottom sites).