Week 7: A Shortened Week

A state park I drove past in Marlborough, MA

 This week, the scheduling was slightly awkward due to the 4th of July falling on a Thursday. This meant that we couldn't set or collect overnight traps on Friday, so we only trapped in 8 towns this week. We
prioritized the towns that had the fewest pools sent in to the Department of Public Health, which meant that my route looked slightly different than usual. 

More Mosquito ID

I had the chance to practice some ID this week before our traps came in. We keep a few good specimens in the lab. I took that opportunity to learn some of the distinct characteristics of mosquitos that we see frequently. For example, you immediately know that a mosquito is of the Anopheles genus if it has a long maxillary proboscis. At this point, I can recognize Anopheles punctapennis and Anopheles quadrimaculatus by distinct patches on their wings scales. This style of learning mosquito species has been more helpful for me than going through the ID manual step by step. I get less discouraged and am able to identify key characteristics faster.

We have heard of positive EEE results from the Plymouth County and Norfolk County Mosquito Control Programs. We have yet to have any ourselves, but stay tuned!

Apologies for the shorter post! Overall, it was a pretty quick, fairly low-key week. I am on vacation next week, so I will see you all in Week 9!