Pitcher-plant Mosquito

Wyeomyia smithii, the pitcher plant mosquito, is an inquiline mosquito that completes its pre-adult life cycle in the phytotelma — that is, the water contained by the purple pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea. In this microcommunity of bacteria, rotifers, protozoa, and midges, W. smithii is the top-level predator; its presence determines the bacterial species diversity within the pitcher. It is not in any way a pest mosquito, neither biting nor approaching humans or livestock, although there are...