Photo Shows Pile of 1M Dead Mosquitoes?

In August 2024, a picture shared to Reddit (archived) claiming to indicate a pile of 1 million lifeless mosquitoes obtained greater than 46,000 upvotes and raised some eyebrows amongst commenters. The submit stated the pile was 8 inches tall and about 18 inches large.

“Who, precisely, counted them?” one Reddit consumer requested.

The identical picture additionally was posted on Reddit (archived) in April 2024, noting that the pesky bugs had been captured in a lure in Sanibel, Florida. 

A Google keyword search (archived) for the phrase “1 million mosquitoes sanibel florida” returned credible information stories that included the picture, equivalent to WFLA, WTSP and CBS News. 

One outlet, Atlanta’s WAGA, included a hyperlink to a Fb post shared by the Lee County Mosquito Management District on Feb. 16, 2022, which featured a photo of the massive mosquito mound. Based on the submit, the picture genuinely confirmed the “outcomes of an LCMCD trapping undertaking that came about in a single part of 1 neighborhood on Sanibel Island over the summer season of 2021.”

Situated outdoors Fort Myers on the western aspect of Florida, Sanibel has been serviced by the LCMCD since 1958. The company reports offering “uninterrupted mosquito management companies to the residents of Lee County for over sixty years.” 

LCMCD did not elaborate in its submit on the main points of the undertaking or how its staff had been in a position to seize so lots of the pests, however it famous on its website that the district “makes use of a wide range of organic, mechanical, and chemical management methods to cut back mosquito populations.”

To find out how authorities calculated the 1 million determine, Snopes reached out to the company. In an e mail, Aaron Lloyd, LCMCD assistant director, instructed Snopes that it is a matter of estimation. He wrote:

When lure counts attain these ranges, particularly when there may be one dominant mosquito species, we are going to use aliquot sampling of the lure seize. Primarily, we weigh the whole lure seize, take a sub-sample of the lure seize, weigh the sub-sample, depend and determine the mosquitoes within the sub-sample, and mathematically calculate what number of mosquitoes are in your entire lure seize.

Some county applications goal mosquito larvae utilizing supplies referred to as larvicides, whereas grownup mosquitoes are focused utilizing adulticides. LCMCD added that:

All supplies used to manage mosquitoes have been completely examined as a part of the U.S. Environmental Safety Company registration course of and are used based on the product label instructions. Larvicides and adulticides are utilized by floor or air utilizing extremely subtle software expertise together with satellite tv for pc navigation and world positioning for precision software focusing on. Sterile Insect Method (SIT) can also be used to cut back the variety of Aedes aegypti, a mosquito vector of a number of ailments.

As a result of some mosquitoes can spread viruses equivalent to Zika, West Nile and dengue, the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention reports that mosquito-control efforts are led by native authorities departments and management professionals who monitor numbers and varieties of mosquitoes in a given space. 

Snopes has debunked different claims associated to mosquitoes, together with whether or not the Invoice and Melinda Gates Basis provided funding to genetically modify — and launch — mosquitoes in numerous areas, together with Florida. We have additionally fact-checked whether or not mosquitoes are attracted to certain blood types and whether or not it is true that Disney World “never” sees mosquitoes inside its gates.  

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