The Good Mosquito

Elephant or Predatory Mosquito (Toxorhynchites speciosus) is, I read, common in the tropics and sub-tropics. They are large, for a mosquito - nearly 20 mm in body length. I photographed this one today on a tree fern in our garden. 

I'm calling it good because, as this webpage from the Queensland Museum explains, they don't bite. And, even better, in their larval stage they are voracious predators and actually eat the larvae of the mozzies that do bite us!  

So Toxorhynchites is to be treasured, not sprayed or zapped. It helps reduce the numbers of bad mosquitos which, some believe, are the most dangerous animals on the planet. 

Many thanks JDO for hosting this month.