Mrfl grmfl #%$# #*$%&#$W% mosquitoes

[unixronin]

Yeah, I have at least nine mosquito bites on my right foot and ankle, apparently courtsy of a mosquito that got in while I was repairing the screen door (or possibly immediately before I repaired it), and the itching has been driving me nuts all night.  When it comes to ecosystems and species, in the words of the Lord High Executioner¹,

I've got a little list,

They'd none of them be missed ...

...and mosquitoes are DEFINITELY on my list of species I Wouldn't Miss from our ecosystem.  The only useful function they serve is as fish food, and other species would take up that slack.

[1] As in Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado, naturally.

Comments

[motomuffin.livejournal.com]

Dragonflies and Bats eat mostly mosquitoes. If mosquitoes were banished from the earth, the Dragonfly and Bat populations would plummet.

I don't like mosquitoes, but I *love* Dragonflies and Bats. So I'm going to have to foil your evil plan.

[cymrullewes.livejournal.com]

I thought dragonflies ate mostly black flies?

Couldn't the bats and dragonflies change their diets to eat gnats and fruit flies?

[lonewolf545.livejournal.com]

Dragonflys eat mosquitos at several stages of their life cycle. Dragonfly newts dine on mosquito larvae, then adult dragonflys hunt mosquitos.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Well, then clearly we don't have enough bats or dragonflies. :)

[motomuffin.livejournal.com]

You can order some Damselflies (http://ecomm.mgfx.com/BerkBioStore/bennes.htm) which do just as well. Toss them into the nearby water, where the mosquitoes are breeding. And build/install some bat-houses.

;)