The bloodsuckers are back.

Mosquitoes, the bane of our collective existence, have returned with a vengeance following several months of drought, and now floods that have swept across much of Texas.

But these mosquitoes are not just any old mosquitoes.

Known as “floodwater mosquitoes,” they are bigger and more aggressive than their container- and stagnant-water breeding counterparts, said Sonja Swiger, an entomology professor at Texas A&M University AgriLife.

Some floodwater mosquitoes can grow as large as 1 to 1.5 inches, compared to others that top out at a quarter-inch. One species, Psorophora, is roughly 20 times larger than more common species.

“We got the rain we really, really needed,” Swiger said. “But now we have the mosquitoes, and some are really enormous.”


Texas is home to more than 80 species of mosquitoes, but floodwater varieties are often the most difficult to control, Swiger said. During floods, rain saturates the ground and creates puddles in lawns and fields that are difficult to detect but ideal for breeding.

Mosquito eggs can survive for two to five years, just waiting for water to hatch, which explains their absence in a drought or freeze.

Once they hatch, floodwater mosquitoes have a short life span, just a couple of weeks. So they get right to work biting, Swiger said.

“They have to get that blood meal very quickly to be able to reproduce,” she said.

Unfortunately, humans provide an excellent source of blood meal.

To repel mosquitoes, Swiger recommends using products with DEET, avoiding the outdoors at dusk and dawn and covering exposed skin with long sleeves and pants, if possible.

An upside is that floodwater mosquitoes do not carry West Nile Virus or other diseases, Swiger said.

And, she added, “at least the grass is green.”

Sarah Bahari, Staff writer. Sarah Bahari is a trending news reporter. She previously worked as a writer for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where she covered a bit of everything.