1 Million Mosquitoes Captured In A Florida Neighborhood

FLORIDA - If you're like most people, mosquitoes are pretty annoying. One is bad enough, but can you imagine a million of those blood-sucking pests swarming around you?

If you ever wondered what that many would look like, now you don't have to thanks to one Florida county.

The Lee County Mosquito Control District had social media followers recently doing a double take after posting several photos to Facebook and Twitter of one million mosquitoes lumped together into a pile on a long table next to two smiling county employees.

The dozens of social media comments did not disappoint.

"Why do they look like proud parents?! I knew not to click on this!" wrote one person jokingly.

"Something about Lee County catching a million mosquitoes is making me ITCH!" another person posted.

According to the Lee County Mosquito Control District, the results of this particular mosquito trapping project took place in one section of one neighborhood on Sanibel Island over the summer of 2021. The mosquitoes were captured using commercially available traps called Mosquito Magnet Executive.

For whatever reason, LCMCD only recently decided to share the photos to its social media accounts.

Erik Jackson, the deputy director of mosquito control for Lee County, told WINK-TV that the mosquito collection is part of a project with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to see if trapping is good for actual mosquito control instead of just research purposes.

In Florida, there are over 80 species of mosquitoes. Of these species, nearly a quarter are considered public health threats due to the pathogens they may transmit, including endemic viruses, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.