Tootfinder

White-dotted mosquito (Culex restuans) that I reared from an egg raft. The scales that form the white dots on the scutum can fall off over time but in a newly-eclosed adult like this an ID is pretty easy. They feed almost exclusively on birds, but sometimes on mammals and thus are one route for transmission of West Nile virus and St. Louis encephalitis. I think that because of their fondness for birds they are largely up in the tree canopy and thus whole-yard (i.e., ground-level) fogging with pyrethroids is totally ineffective. #virus #wnv #disease #mosquitoes #culex #birds #nature #inaturalist https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/359353002