First Few Weeks

    Within the first couple weeks of starting RaHP VEC, I have begun learning about mosquitoes and all that is involved when working with them. Since this summer is my first experience with mosquito work, I spent my first week learning about mosquito care with the lab-kept Culex tarsalis colony. While working with the colony, I learned more about the mosquito life cycle. Additionally, I had the opportunity to practice a dissection to help me learn more about mosquito anatomy. 

    In addition to normal mosquito care tasks, I also worked with fellow RaHP VEC interns, Olivia, Isabelle and Grace. Early in the week, I set mosquito traps with Olivia and Isabelle at the Environmental Learning Center. I did not previously know how the process of trapping mosquitoes worked, and I ended up being fascinated by the entire contraption. The four of us also attended an outreach event at CSU’s main campus to help teach high schoolers more about mosquitoes and mosquito-borne illnesses. We taught them about the mosquito life cycle by allowing them to identify the various stages under a stereoscope and helped them decipher between male and female mosquitoes. I think they took the most interest in mosquito larvae.

    

    Finally, after learning about some of the mosquito species, Olivia and Isabelle helped teach Grace and me how to ID Northern Colorado mosquito species using physical indicators and a dichotomous chart. Most of what we practiced identifying were Culex tarsalis or Aedes Vexans. After careful consideration of this week’s events, I have concluded that Culex tarsalis is my favorite mosquito species due to the white band on their proboscis (which also helps with easy identification).