Mosquito larvae strikes (IMAGE)
Caption
With striking high-speed video footage, scientists have for the first time detailed how predatory mosquito larvae attack and capture prey in aquatic habitats. Published in the Annals of the Entomological Society of America, this new research sheds light on behavior that has long proven too small and too fast to study, until now. In this side-by-side image, at left, a Psorophora ciliata larva strikes a prey larva, exhibiting a unique, sudden neck extension to launch its head away from its body and toward the prey. At right, a Sabethes cyaneus larva attacks a prey larva by using its tail to sweep the prey toward its head.
Credit
(Images originally published in Hancock et al 2022, Annals of the Entomological Society of America)
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