- These sites contain permanent bodies of water that support fish and other predators of mosquito larvae. In the Midwest, natural ponds are characterized by vegetation such as surface duckweed and cattails.
- Natural ponds do not produce nuisance biting Aedes and Psorophora mosquitoes because these mosquitos do not lay eggs on standing water.
- People may be bitten by adult mosquitoes that have dispersed into the nearby vegetation from sites such as flood plains of streams.
- This often leads to confusion among the public who conclude that the natural pond was the source of the mosquitoes.
- Low numbers of Culex mosquitoes can develop in shallow water of natural ponds, but females of the most common species C. territans feed on frogs and other cold-blooded animals, not humans.
- Cattail ponds can be a source of Coquillettidia perturbans, however, a mosquito that is both a nuisance biter and a vector in northern Indiana.
- Click here for more information on these mosquito species.
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