NMCAW: Meet Liana Linn, an Entomology Lab Technician from our St. Paul lab!
June 16, 2025
10 Mosquito Breeding Sources in Your Yard and How to Remove Them
June 17, 2025
Mosquitoes are starting to emerge, but adult collections are still below average.
Adult mosquito numbers ticked up slightly on June 10th, but we are still well below average for this time of year.
Every Monday night starting in mid-May through September, the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District sets out a variety of mosquito and black fly traps throughout the district and employs a network of sweep net collections done by employees and volunteers. Any insects collected are brought back to our lab on Tuesday to be identified throughout the week with maps published to show current mosquito and black fly activity.
Cooler weather and low river levels could be responsible for our slow start to the mosquito season, as for the first time in three years we did not see a significant emergence of spring mosquitoes in May and early June. Adult mosquito samples collected in CO2 traps on June 10th were about one third of the average for that week of the year. With rain over the weekend and more falling yesterday, we are likely to see that increase continue, but it's too early to know if we will remain below average or approach the gray line above.
The mid-summer surge that we predicted earlier this year may be starting to arrive. According to MMCD Entomologist, Dr. Scott Larson, "Coquillettidia perturbans mosquitoes are starting to show up across the District as well which isn't unexpected, but I think it suggests they will be starting to annoy the general public soon." Coquillettidia perturbans or "cattail mosquitoes" are a single brood species that emerge as adults around the beginning of July each year. They are an aggressive, human-biting species so stock up on bug spray as you prepare for your Independence Day festivities.
Below are maps showing mosquitoes and black flies collected in CO2 traps on June 9-10th:
Celebrate National Mosquito Control Awareness Week with MMCD!
June 15-21st is National Mosquito Control Awareness Week in the U.S. and we have lots of exciting content lined up to celebrate. Throughout the week we will have posts to our blog and social media highlighting different areas of MMCD's program and the staff who make them possible. Check out our first post featuring Entomology Lab Technician Lianna Linn.
Later in the week we will be posting about the Catch Basin team and Field Technicians and we will have several posts mentioning different things you can do to reduce mosquito and tick bites as we head into the peak season.
Be sure to follow along on all of our social media channels:
