Bug FAQWhite-dotted Mosquito
Culex restuans · Order: Diptera · Family: Culicidae
Source: Wikipedia
Adult females are medium-sized mosquitoes with wing lengths around 4 mm. Larvae develop in small water-filled containers such as discarded tires, often near homes. Females usually feed on birds but will sometimes bite mammals, and they can carry disease agents.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Two white spots may appear on the back of the thorax, but they are unreliable because they can fall off or be absent.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Female wing length ranges from 4 to 4.4 mm.
Source: Wikipedia
Is it a pest in the house?
Because larvae thrive in containers near homes, they can help expand mosquito ranges close to human habitations.
Source: Wikipedia
Does it bite or sting?
Some reports say they bite humans often, while others claim they rarely do, focusing on birds instead.
Source: Wikipedia
How to get rid of it
Adult mosquitoes are usually controlled with synthetic pyrethroids or organophosphates, while larvae are treated with growth regulators or bacterial larvicides like Bti. Resistance to insecticides is a common problem in this species.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
Immature stages are commonly found in small containers, especially discarded vehicle tires.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Adult females mainly take blood meals from birds, though they will occasionally feed on mammals. Larvae are reared in labs on fish food, rabbit pellets and liver powder, but their natural diet is not well known.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
They undergo complete metamorphosis with egg, larva, pupa and adult stages. Four larval instars occur before pupation; development can finish in as little as ten days when organic matter is abundant.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
It occurs across Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America and the Bahamas.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
Without the white spots they look very similar to the common Culex pipiens mosquito. A 2020 study identified five reliable characters to separate them from Cx. pipiens in Minnesota and Wisconsin samples.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 39 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Virginia, Indiana, North Dakota, Texas, Maryland, Illinois, Florida, Ohio.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in Canada; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
What diseases can they transmit?
They are known vectors of West Nile virus and St. Louis encephalitis.
Source: Wikipedia
Where are they found?
They live in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America and the Bahamas.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Culicidae)
Asian Tiger MosquitoAedes albopictusCan spread germs or disease
House Mosquito ComplexCulex pipiensCan spread germs or disease
Yellow Fever MosquitoAedes aegyptiCan spread germs or disease
Inland Floodwater MosquitoAedes vexansCan spread germs or disease
Asian Bush MosquitoAedes japonicusCan bite
Southern House MosquitoCulex quinquefasciatusCan spread germs or diseaseSources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culex_restuans
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-23.