Mosquitoes

How to identify mosquitoes

Small, slender flies with long legs and a piercing mouthpart. You'll notice the bites and the whine long before you see the insect. They're most active at dawn and dusk and cluster in shaded, humid areas.

Why it matters

Mosquitoes need only a bottle cap of standing water to breed, and they rest during the day in cool, shaded harborage — dense shrubs, tall grass, under decks, and along tree lines. A quick spray of the open lawn does almost nothing because it misses both the breeding sites and the resting sites.

Beyond the itch, mosquitoes are a public-health concern as carriers of disease. An effective program treats the shaded resting areas where adults spend the day and knocks down the standing-water sites where the next generation is developing.