Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
A Gallinipper mosquito (Psorophora ciliata) grooms herself while perched on the bottom of a water fountain at Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, in Colorado County, TX, USA. She spends a lot of time grooming her shaggy hind legs, as well as some time cleaning her antennae and other legs. Once done, she flies to another spot.
These are possibly the largest biting mosquito in the world. The females prefer to get blood from large mammals, and their thick proboscises allow them to puncture thick skin.
The cleaning process probably not only removes debris from sensitive feet and antennae, which allow the mosquitoes to sense the world around them, but the process probably also primes these sensors.
0:00 Stretching
0:15 Cleaning back feet
0:50 Cleaning antennae
1:30 More cleaning feet
A Gallinipper mosquito (Psorophora ciliata) grooms herself while perched on the bottom of a water fountain at Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, in Colorado County, TX, USA. She spends a lot of time grooming her shaggy hind legs, as well as some time cleaning her antennae and other legs. Once done, she flies to another spot.
These are possibly the largest biting mosquito in the world. The females prefer to get blood from large mammals, and their thick proboscises allow them to puncture thick skin.
The cleaning process probably not only removes debris from sensitive feet and antennae, which allow the mosquitoes to sense the world around them, but the process probably also primes these sensors.
0:00 Stretching
0:15 Cleaning back feet
0:50 Cleaning antennae
1:30 More cleaning feet
