In 1932, Hearle wrote "This is the most widespread and commonest species in B.C." It is a domestic mosquito and in the 1920s almost every rain water barrel in the Lower Mainland was teeming with its larvae throughout the summer (Hearle 1921). Its larvae are still found in artificial containers, ditches, garden, woodland and polluted pools and in brackish coastal pools where they are often associated with Ae. togoi and occasionally with Ae. dorsalis larvae. The females hibernate, reappearing in early spring, when partly on account of their large size, they cause consternation out of all proportion to their importance. For reasons that are not clear at present, populations of this species are greater in spring and fall than at the height of summer, although there are several broods each season. Females are not usually aggressive biters and take blood from large mammals more often than from man. I have, however, noticed a temperature effect in the Lower Mainland where this species readily bites humans on warm evenings (above 20°C).
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