An insect expert in China claimed to catch the world’s largest mosquito with a massive wingspan of 11.15cm. (Source: Getty Images)
From lizards to spiders, many insects and rodents leave people perplexed. Nevertheless, when it comes to naming the most annoying insect, mosquitoes top the list. Has the tiny creature bothered you too? Well, recently an insect expert claimed to catch the world’s largest mosquito that has a massive wingspan of 11.15cm. The mosquito was discovered by Chinese entomologist Zhao Li during a field inspection at Qingcheng Mountain, Sichuan Province in China, August 2017, a Daily Mail report stated.
Zhao told the media company that the insect belonged to a species called holorusia mikado, which is the world’s largest mosquito species that originated in Japan. Initially, after catching the insect, the entomologist was shocked himself. However, it is only now that he has confirmed it to be the largest mosquito in the world, as per the same report.
According to South China Morning Post, the giant insect will be on display at a museum in southwest China in the month of May. The body size of the discovered insect is 5cm long with a wingspan of 11.15cm, which is around 10 times longer than an average mosquito and one third longer than the normal holorusia mikado. The largest wingspan of the same species, which was 8cm, was discovered in Japan in the year 1876.
“The mosquito was collected in August last year. After I caught it I quickly made it into a specimen, by killing and freezing it. This may sound cruel, but for insects it is a painless death,” Zhao told the news website.
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Interestingly, there is also a debate whether the insect is actually a mosquito or not, as some say that it could be a crane fly. However, Zhao explained that the term “crane fly” was a generally used in English for the entire mosquito family, whereas “mosquito” refers to only to those that suck blood. And since the specimen caught by him feeds on larvae and not blood, it would be known as a crane fly in English, the same report stated.
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