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How to identify it
- The top of the thorax has a broad, dark brown stripe down the middle that contrasts with golden-brown scales on either side.[2]
- The abdomen is dark-scaled on top with no pale crossbands, but long yellowish hairs stick out between the segments, and the underside is entirely pale.[2]
- The legs are dark with no pale bands, the proboscis is dark and unbanded, and the wings carry only narrow dark scales.[2]
Look-alikes
| Look-alike | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|
| Woodland pool mosquito | Another spring Aedes of wooded wetlands, but its thorax is an even golden-brown with no dark center stripe, its abdomen has narrow pale bands, and its hind feet have pale bands at both ends of each segment.[2] |
| Aedes stimulans | Also hatches once a year in spring woodland water, but it has broad, dingy white bands across the abdomen and broad pale bands at the base of each hind-foot segment.[2] |
Where it lives
Aedes aurifer lives in the northeastern United States and the southernmost part of eastern Canada, from the Canadian border south to Maryland, west to the Missouri border and north to the Great Lakes. In New Jersey it is most numerous in the northern half of the state but locally abundant as far south as Atlantic County, and isolated populations probably live in cranberry bogs across much of the Pine Barrens. Connecticut records it in all eight counties.[1][2]
Biology and life cycle
It has one generation a year. The eggs hatch fairly early in spring, but hatching is staggered and the larvae grow slowly, so they can be found for about six weeks; they appear in April and pupate in May. Connecticut finds larvae from March to May.[1][2]
It appears to be restricted to freshwater swamps and bogs. In New Jersey it never uses snow pools and lives only in woodland pools that blend into a swamp and have plants growing in them. Sedges (Carex) mark good habitat in the northern counties, where the largest numbers come from swamps formed by beaver dams, and in southern New Jersey it is common in abandoned cranberry bogs and in acid-water bogs choked with plants.[1][2]
Adults are usually flying by the second week of May, and Connecticut records them from May to August. Females feed on mammals.[1][2]
Females probably lay their eggs among the plants that shelter the larvae. As the swamp level drops through the season, the eggs are left above the waterline; they will not hatch until they have been through a cold period, and they are flooded again the following spring to start the new generation.[1]
Damage and signs
- Rutgers calls it a vicious biter, but because it rarely flies far from its breeding habitat, never occurs in large numbers, is active early in the season and stays in wooded habitats, it ranks as a minor pest in New Jersey. On Great Swamp trails, the nuisance drops off quickly after late May.[1]
- The Connecticut guide describes the females as persistent biters of people that generally remain near the larval habitat.[2]
Health risk
The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station has isolated Jamestown Canyon virus from this species.[2]
Control
Prevention
It stays close to its swamp and bog breeding sites, and on the trails of New Jersey's Great Swamp it is at its worst in late May. If you hike near such wetlands then, wear long pants, long sleeves, shoes and socks, and use an EPA-registered repellent as the label directs.[1][2][3]
A thin shirt is not enough protection, because mosquitoes can bite right through T-shirts and other lightweight, tight-fitting clothing.[3]
Common questions
- Where does Aedes aurifer breed?
- In freshwater swamps and bogs, including beaver-dam swamps, abandoned cranberry bogs and acid-water bogs, and in plant-filled woodland pools that connect to a swamp. In New Jersey it never breeds in snow pools.[1][2]
- Is Aedes aurifer dangerous?
- Its bite is vicious, but Rutgers ranks it as a minor pest in New Jersey because of its short early season, small numbers and restriction to wooded habitats. Connecticut has isolated Jamestown Canyon virus from it.[1][2]
Sources
- Rutgers Center for Vector Biology (New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station), “Aedes aurifer (Coquillett) (species account by W.J. Crans).” vectorbio.rutgers.edu/outreach/species/sp20.htm (accessed 2026-11-08)
- Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, “Identification Guide to the Mosquitoes of Connecticut, Bulletin No. 966 (Andreadis, Thomas and Shepard, 2005).” portal.ct.gov/-/media/caes/documents/publications/bulletins/b966b996pdf.pdf (accessed 2026-11-08)
- City of Jacksonville Mosquito Control (Florida), “Avoiding Mosquitoes.” www.jacksonville.gov/departments/neighborhoods/mosquito-control/avoiding-mosquitoes (accessed 2026-11-08)
- iNaturalist, “Aedes aurifer taxon page (order and family).” www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1112060 (accessed 2026-11-08)