Hardy Tropicals UK

Ill have to describe it because it chased me out of my staff room at work.. it was very aggressive.. despite being about a metre behind me, it would not stop persuing me for the entire length of the corridor.

I was large compared to other mosquitoes Ive seen and I felt it land on me, which I don't usually when a small mosquito lands.

It had distinctly striped legs and a dark body.. in length I'd say around 1.5cm long... scary thing. Any ideas?

stephenprudence wrote: scary thing. Any ideas?

Yeah, man up!

I use to loads luggage into planes at East Midlands Airport. One day a guy came dashing down the steps saying a huge mozzy had just bitten him in the hold and then chased him out. He came out in hives a day later, over his entire body and ended up in hospital. He eventually got transferred to some infectious specialist hospital and as I was only working the summer I never saw him again!!! ....maybe it was one of its offspring!!!!

Should have had your camera with you, Stephen. Failing that, you should have swatted it and taken the corpse to the local vet for a full-blown autopsy and get an official I.D.

Spooky, though.

I left my allotment for a short time yesterday and my plot neighbour heard a strange droning noise get louder. He saw a large swarm of something flying toward him and he quickly lay on the ground as it flew over him. They weren't mosquitoes, they were bees. Told me about it when I returned. Glad I wasn't there

I suggest you inform the authorities Stephen, as it sounds like the gallinippers that have invaded Florida.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ummer.html

I know this is a daily mail report, but it talks of big.... striped legs.... and very aggressive, which are things you describe.

One of these? Hope not! But also check the 'Similar species' section part-way down the page.

I don't think it was this one.. I've read the article on that and I'm very cautious about assuming it was this type..

But it was similar.. but having searched I wonder if it was Culiseta annulata.

Apparently Culiseta annulata are our biggest native mosquito and do have stripey legs.. however the stripes appeared to be more vivid than the pictures of Culiseta annulata.

It is possible this Asian Tiger Mosquito could come in on fruit though where I work.. Not sure.

stephenprudence wrote:
It is possible this Asian Tiger Mosquito could come in on fruit though where I work.. Not sure.

You're working with imported fruit Could be anything from anywhere then

Yes bananas are the number one fruit for introductions. We have had a Black Widow in on the bananas.. that caused a hoo har.. but they generally dont survive/they are killed. Even got a Banana spider in once.

Things come in all the time I imagine.