Woodland Pool Mosquito

Aedes canadensis, the woodland pool mosquito, is an aggressive, day biting mosquito that can be a vector of a number of diseases which is found mainly in eastern North America.
== Description ==
Aedes canadensis often occurs with congeneric species and to be sure of identification of either adults or larvae a, Identification key and microsocope are required. In general the adults of this species havee dark, the females often reddish, bodies which have contrasting white banded tarsi with the bands at each end of the segments.
Female Aedes canadensis gain blood meals from a wide range of large and small animals, birds and reptiles. It is particularly associated with turtles and clouds of this species are frequently observed surrounding turtles crossing roads to lay their eggs during May. Animals fed on by the femmales includes large and small mammals, birds reptiles and amphibians, there is a record of the females feeding on a leopard frog.
The larvae of A. canadensis grow in temporary or semipermanent woodland pools which contain fallen leaves and which tend to be shaded, they are less frequently found in pools in small stream beds or in standing water next to wooded areas. They can also bee found in swamps and marshes with emergent vegetation such as reeds and cattails, muskeg pools and peat bogs, and in some areas have been found in open prairie pools with little shade. They overwinter as eggs, in late winter and spring large numbers of larvae hatch. The females are seldom troublesome to humans in eastern North America, even when recelntly emerged females are extremely abundant, however, in the western part of its range they readily and persistently bite people, especially in areas of shade and throughout most of the day. The presence of larvae in the breeding pools after the Spring suggests that these mosquitoes are either laying non diapausing eggs or that the hatching of the eggs is staggered. The males have been recorded swarming in the early evening and have been recorded as obtaining nectar on orchids.
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