Good Question: What do mosquitoes do during winter and when will they return?
ST. PAUL, Minn. — As we take shelter from the brutal cold, so too is a pesky bug just waiting for warmth to return. It's one of the few perks of this frigid season.
But have you ever wondered: How do mosquitoes spend winter in Minnesota? And how soon might we see them again? Good Question.
Leave it to a Minnesotan to find the bright side of bitter weather.
"I prefer the cold mostly for that reason. No bugs," said Alex Kleinschmidt as he went disc golfing at Acorn Park in Roseville. As he searched for a lost disc, the crunchy cattails of a marsh where he was walking is much more inviting in January than in July.
"You swing your hand around over here and you hit probably four (mosquitoes) just on one swipe," he said.
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How do mosquitoes spend winter? Kleinschmidt assumes they're in the ground like other bugs. He's correct, to an extent.
"It really depends on the species because we have 52 species of mosquitoes here in Minnesota," said Alex Carlson, public affairs for the Metro Mosquito Control District. "The most abundant mosquitoes that we have are overwintering as eggs and they're waiting for the snow melt and the spring and summer rain to cause those eggs to hatch." he is describing the Spring Aedes mosquito, better known as the "Snowmelt mosquito."
Most adult mosquitoes die as winter arrives, but not all of them.
Are there any adult mosquito species flying around in winter? Not out in the open.
"Some species do overwinter as adults," Carlson said. The Culex mosquito will hide out in caves, sewers and catch basins. If you happen to be in one of those dark locations, the good news is the bugs won't bite humans during that time.
"They're gonna wait until there's enough food sources because, in addition to drinking blood, they also need sugar from plants and stuff like that to survive, and there just not finding that this time of year," said Carlson. Once spring arrives and temperatures rise, the Culex mosquitoes return to their feeding grounds.
If mosquitoes are in adult or in egg form, some species can survive winter as larva. That's how the Cattail mosquito spends its winters.
"In the fall, their eggs hatch and they attach to the root of some vegetation that sticks out of the water, usually cattail plants, which is where they get their name from," said Carlson. Cattail mosquitoes emerge from the water in late June and early July. They tend to prefer feeding on humans.
What's the earliest mosquito we will see this year?
"It's a species called 'culisita inornate'. The other name for it is 'Winter Marsh mosquito' because it does come out in the wintertime sometimes," said Carlson. Their emergence depends on whether spring arrives early, leading to warmth in February and March.
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Imposters could be out right now. A viewer sent WCCO video last January thinking she found a mosquito, but it was a winter crane fly. They look just like mosquitos, but they don't bite.
This cold snap, however, definitely bites.
"A lot of the eggs won't survive (winter). Although, eggs can survive unhatched for up to seven years," said Carlson.
Even with the drought over the past few summers, it's possible that mosquito eggs laid more than three years ago will finally hatch this spring.
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