Asian Tiger Mosquito

They've reached the Blue Ridge Mountains. Sigh. Wrens continue doing the best they can, but as my wasp colonies seem to be collapsing and resident cardinals stuffing themselves on raspberries, I've had an overnight albopictus population explosion. Like the other commenter, I'm the one most mosquitoes bite last and A. albopictus bite first. Good news is I'm still able to see them and swat before they bite.

Hard to blame anybody for hating and killing this vermin, but the way to kill them is still *one* *by* *one*! The last thing we need is any more damage to natural predator populations, so nobody should even think about spraying them!

Yet another horrible introduced exotic pest, this species arrived through the port of Houston, TX. These aggressive suckers swarm my feet & legs in mid-day, with painful, itchy bites. They are a carrier of Zika, which means (sadly) that Zika will likely be endemic within the Gulf Coast of the USA soon...
Their behavior, obvious black & white stripes, & small size are distinctive.

This species of mosquito is extremely aggressive. It is easily recognized by the alternating black & white stripes on its legs. Unlike native species, the Asian Tiger feeds throughout the day and does not limit itself to ground level. Blazing sunlight does not deter it. It is agile and hard to whack! It breeds in tiny amounts of water (eg., a bottlecap) or in soggy areas. Health officials suspect it is a vector for the West Nile virus. See this link to the University of Maryland for images & more information:

http://www.agnr.umd.edu/users/charlesmg/mosquito\insect_mena...

Until now, mosquitoes have never been fond of my blood - and I have lived... read more in the tropics and in Minnesota, where locals said that the mosquito is the state bird! But the Asian Tiger absolutely drove me from my garden last summer (2006). Cutting flowers for the dinner table for 10 minutes meant getting 20 bites - and they bit through denim! The alternative was a hazmat suit and enough DEET to kill an elephant. It wasn't just my garden, either - everyone I spoke to said that mosquito activity was exceptionally high, much worse than the previous summer, which makes me think that the Asian Tiger is a recent arrival in my area.