Word: rutilus
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...predator mosquito that has raised the hopes of USDA scientists is a creature with the formidable name of Toxorhynchites rutilus rutilus. During its larval stage in stagnant water, the mosquito feeds on the larvae of more common, biting and disease-carrying cousins, like the Aedes aegypti, which also breeds in pools and water-filled containers. Although the Tx. rutilus is found from Florida to Canada and as far west as Texas, it is not very prolific by insect standards and does not exist naturally in numbers large enough to control the population of other mosquitoes. That deficiency presents no problem...
...what happens after Tx. rutilus does in large numbers of the prey mosquitoes? Does it turn, in its adult stage, to bigger meals?like man? Fortunately, the bug's proboscis cannot penetrate the skin of animal or human, and the adult depends for food only on flower nectar and plant detritus. Thus for mosquito control, as Focks puts it, "the Toxorhynchites is a neat package...
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