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Toxorhynchites speciosus
A very large male (see the plumose antennae, photo #2) mosquito, in fact the world's largest mosquito! But this species is not a bloodsucker thank goodness! The larval stages prey on aquatic invertebrates and the adults feed on nectar.
Spotted in a large semi-urban yard & garden near a disturbed patch of remnant forest, in the equatorial tropics of northern New Guinea.
Taken with flash in the late afternoon.
Great series and those plumed antennae are interesting. I dislike mosquitoes so it's nice to hear these don't bite.
It was huge. It was sitting on star gooseberry (Sauropus androgynus) with leaves in shot estimated average size of 55 x 30 mm. Papua, Indonesia and PNG comprise New Guinea Island so the fauna is very similar. I used the Brisbane insects as one of my reference links. According to the "Mosquito checklist of Papuan Subregion" there are 5 species/subspecies all occurring in New Guinea, including speciosus. However T. inornatus maps to PNG better and T. speciosus to Australia. However there are no map points in Papua (Indonesia) for either species owing to its former inaccessibility I imagine. On the Papua Insects website http://www.papua-insects.nl/insect%20ord... T. speciousus is listed but not T. inornatus! Anyway the beast's size, occurrence records and resemblance to images http://www.flickr.com/photos/mgg310/8459... make it good enough for me! Thanks again Andrea.
It has that characteristic down turned proboscis. Here is another link: Toxorhynchites nepenthicola is in PNG http://www.mosquitocatalog.org/files/pdf... http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_... There is a Toxorhynchites auranticauda in Indonesia but cannot find a photo of it. http://www.celebrationcdd.org/types_of_m... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/13582... Do you recall how 'large' the specimen was? Good luck with the ID Scott. PS. If it is Toxorhynchites, these are the good guys. Their larvae feast on the larvae of the Aedes aegypti.
Thanks Andrea! I knew it was the biggest "mosquito/midge" I'd ever see, but I had no idea it was the record holder!
The girls can't hide from those antennae... if Andrea is right 'The genus includes the largest known species of mosquito' you've got a candidate.
Spotted on Oct 14, 2013
Submitted on Oct 14, 2013
