GC: n
S: UF/IFAS – https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/IN1380 (last access: 12 August 2024); VDCI – https://www.vdci.net/blog/mosquito-of-the-month-toxorhynchites-rutilus-elephant-mosquito/ (last access: 12 August 2024).
N: 1. Scientific name: Toxorhynchites rutilus. Popular name: elephant mosquito.
- Kingdom: Animalia. Eumetazoa: metazoans. Bilateria: bilaterally symmetrical animals. Protostomia: protostomes. Ecdysozoa. Arthropoda: arthropods. Hexapoda. Class: Insecta insects. Order: Diptera. Family: Culicidae. Genus: Toxorhynchites. Species: Toxorhynchites rutilus.
2. Toxorhynchites rutilus is one of the largest known species of mosquitoes in North America. Larvae of Toxorhynchites are aquatic predators and prey upon aquatic invertebrates with preference under some circumstances for larvae of other mosquitoes, a characteristic that can contribute to the use of Toxorhynchites mosquitoes as potential biological controls against container-inhabiting mosquitoes (Focks 2007). Larvae of Toxorhynchites can develop in natural containers (e.g., tree holes, plant leaf bases, bamboo, broken stems and internodes) and in artificial man-made containers (e.g., cans, flowerpot saucers, planters, and discarded tires) (Steffan and Evenhuis 1981). Adult females of Toxorhynchites are autogenous and feed only on carbohydrate-rich sources (e.g., nectar, honeydew, and fruit), but not blood which makes them harmless in terms of serving as a vector of pathogens to humans and animals.
3. The adults of Toxorhynchites are larger than most other mosquito species (Wilkerson et al. 2021) (Figure 2). The adult body consists of three parts, head (antennae, eyes, proboscis, and palps), thorax (wings and legs), and abdomen (genitalia). The adult proboscis is very long and distinctively downward curved at a 90-degree angle or more (Figure 3). The subspecies can be distinguished based on morphological differences among adult males. Male of Toxorhynchites rutilus rutilus has a pale band on the foreleg tarsus, whereas male of Toxorhynchites rutilus septentrionalis has entirely dark scaled tarsi of the forelegs (Burkett-Cadena 2013). The thorax and the entire body are covered dorsally with iridescent scales of various colors, including blue, white, green, and purple (Burkett-Cadena 2013). The scutellum is evenly rounded and has no setae (Wilkerson et al. 2021).
4. Cultural Interrelation: One of the most glaring errors in Jurassic Park – if you move past the minor technicality that various species of dinosaurs were brought back from extinction – is that the mosquito caught inside the famous amber sample is a fraud.
In the film, blood contained in the gut of the mosquito is extracted by Richard Attenborough’s character John Hammond and spliced with frog DNA to kick off the dinosaur cloning process.
However, entomologists have now claimed that the particular mosquito used in the film is the only species that doesn’t suck blood at all – making the extraction of the dino DNA impossible.
S: 1. ADW – https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Toxorhynchites_rutilus/classification/#Toxorhynchites_rutilus (last access: 12 August 2024); VDCI – https://www.vdci.net/blog/mosquito-of-the-month-toxorhynchites-rutilus-elephant-mosquito/ (last access: 12 August 2024). 2 & 3. UF/IFAS – https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/IN1380 (last access: 12 August 2024). 4. Daily Mail – https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2381433/Jurassic-Park-exposed-The-mosquito-forms-basis-film-cloning-dinosaurs-possible-species-DOESNT-suck-blood.html (last access: 12 August 2024).
SYN: Megarhinus rutilus (Coquillett 1896)
S: UF/IFAS – https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/IN1380 (last access: 12 August 2024)
CR: Aedes aegypti, Aedes japonicus, culicine mosquito, insect, mosquito, Stegomyia albopicta.
