Giant Mosquito that eats bumble bees?
Posted by jennifer golla on August 2, 2006
Q: My front garden is full of carpenter/bumble bee sized mosquitos. Today I saw one land on a bumble bee pick it up and suck the life out of it. I am totally serious my husband was there with me and he tried taking a picture of it but it flew at him. we live in douglassville pa and we do get standing water on the creek next to our lot. It didn't really look like a crane fly it was fatter and had mosquito like sucking mouth parts. this thing sucked that bee quarter sized bee dry and the bee couldn't fight back it submitted instantly. What is this thing? can it hurt us?it wasn't floppy like a crane fly, i hope you can help me.
Habitat: suburban/yard
State: Pennsylvania
Habitat: suburban/yard
A: Oh my, I just did a unit on this kind of insect! You were lucky and got to see an interesting animal called a robber fly in action. There are quite a few robber flies and they do indeed often capture bees and wasps, inject a special saliva that stuns their prey and then suck up the predigested inner tissue. You needn't worry as these flies won't bother you at all. Check out our Oct 30 week's unit and you'll get to see a picture of two of these inteesting creatures along with info on them. Thanks so much for writing.
John Wiessinger ( August 2, 2006)