Mosquitoes
Mosquito Control Awareness Week: Valent Biosciences Field Cage Trial Results in Mosquito Insecticide Resistance
West Nile Virus is the major mosquito-borne disease in the state of Wyoming. One element of our District's Integrated Mosquito Management Plan (IMM) is the use of adulticides for the control of adult mosquitoes. Currently, there are limited modes of action available for their use as adulticides. This has resulted in an alarming degree of insecticide resistance in mosquitoes, particularly in vector species such as Culex tarsalis. Explore how abundance of West Nile Virus has exploded in recent years, the results of our field cage trials with Valent Biosciences and evidence of the resistant populations in Teton County, how resistance develops in mosquitoes, the types of resistance, and how our team prevents, detects, and manages resistance once found.
Pesticide Resistance in Mosquitoes
Teton County Weed and Pest District’s Entomologist, Mikenna Smith, together with scientific staff from Valent Biosciences will be conducting a mosquito “field cage trial” this month. Field cage trials are large scale, field experiments where mosquitoes are placed in cages that are strategically placed in the path of a truck mounted ultra-low volume adulticide spray drift. This is the most “real world” experiment that can be conducted to determine if certain pesticides can kill the caged mosquitoes.
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Integrated Pest Management Services for Ranchers
The summer season is here, and we have already been hard at work conducting integrated pest and mosquito management! Did you know that our team provides a variety of resources and services to support the community and ranchers in reducing populations of mosquitoes and the risk of mosquito-borne diseases?
Mosquito Springtime Habitats
There’s a lot of snow that will be melting after an epic winter like the one we just had. Some of us didn’t want winter to end. But you know who DID want the snow to stop and melt? Mosquitoes. Although many summertime mosquitoes hatch in flood irrigated fields, we have plenty of springtime mosquito habitat too.
National Mosquito Control Awareness Week (June 19-25, 2022)
Join us for the National Mosquito Control Awareness Week that extends from June 19-25. Without your support and involvement with TCWP, our mosquito efforts would be in vain. Outreach and community involvement from concerned citizens of Teton County are necessary for an effective Integrated Pest Management system.
American History: A Story of Mosquito-Borne Disease
When you think of a deadly animal what comes to mind? Sharks? Rattlesnakes? Crocodiles? These animals may result in some human deaths but they are far from the deadliest creatures out there. So what’s the “big” killer?— you guessed it, mosquitoes.
Get to know your Mosquitoes: Fun (not so fun) facts
Once July comes around you’ll start to see more and more of those pesky mosquitoes. When you’re in the backcountry camping you’ll hear the incessant buzz of their wings against the side of your tent. If you hike Snow King in the evening you’ll start to see some swarms following you once the sun goes behind the mountain. Or, you won’t even notice any mosquitoes around you but you’ll find multiple bug bites on your legs after you eat a late dinner on your back porch.
Mosquito Habitats - Springtime
As summer nears and temperatures begin to rise throughout the Valley, water from snowmelt can create rearing habitat for larval mosquitoes. The habitat requirements for larval mosquitoes vary across species and mosquitoes have learned to take advantage of all different types of habitat. Some mosquito species prefer ephemeral habitats, such as pooling snowmelt, others require permanent water sources like grassy shallow pond edges. In the spring, our two biggest sources of mosquito habitat are snowmelt pools and water springing up as the water table rises from melting snowpack.
Mosquito Season Yet Again.. 2019
With the onset of the summer and its warmer days and longer nights comes mosquitoes. It may seem that their bite may just be a mere annoyance but it can be much more severe than that. Mosquito bites can spread diseases like West Nile Virus and Zika. Mosquito-borne diseases do not only affect humans - they also kill countless birds, reptiles, animals and endangered species each year.