These days, there is an app for everything.  In times past, you might have photographed a mosquito to identify it.  Scientists are readying a new identification app, which doesn’t require your phone camera.  It uses your phone’s microphone.

Ingenuity has delivered a crowd-sourced method of mosquito identification, which can help determine the type of mosquitoes that are in your backyard.  Over the years, mosquito studies have proved costly and time-consuming.  Scientists usually trap and study mosquito species.  A phone app is about to be released, which will allow us to help identify the types of mosquitoes we have flying around your home, by sound.

Aedes aegypti mosquito central mass

Scientists have found that not all mosquitoes sound the same.

The buzzing noise produced by mosquitoes comes from their wings.  Male and female mosquitoes do not make the same sound when they are in flight.  Scientists now agree that different species of mosquitoes sound differently.  What’s more, they can identify the differences using an app.  Creators of the app believe this will help us determine whether the mosquitoes we come in contact with around our homes are dangerous, or just a nuisance.  It will also help scientists determine where dangerous mosquitoes reside, and potentially thwart disease outbreaks with proactive mosquito control efforts.  All a user has to do is open up the Abuzz app on their phone, and record a couple of seconds of audio.  That sound is then compared against the app’s sound database to identify the mosquito.  Pretty cool!

Central Mass mosquitoes and mosquito control.

Do we need a mosquito identification app?  What many Central Massachusetts residents already know, is that we have dangerous mosquitoes.  This year, Massachusetts has had four confirmed cases of Eastern equine encephalitis.  EEE is a potentially deadly mosquito disease, which is passed by Aedes and Culex mosquitoes in Central Mass.  Another thing we are familiar with are the different types of mosquito control available.  There are the municipal sprays, which only go so far.  For complete protection from mosquitoes and the harmful diseases they carry, professional mosquito control is essential.  Hiring a reputable mosquito control company to apply barrier mosquito protection is a smart choice for all Central Mass residents.  There are two types of barrier mosquito sprays.  First, is an EPA-registered insecticide.  This type of mosquito control will kill mosquitoes on contact.  It will also eliminate up to 95% of mosquitoes in your yard for about three weeks with a special time-released formula.  Mosquito control companies also offer all-natural mosquito control.  This type of protection will work for about two weeks, and will reduce mosquitoes by about 85%.  In addition to at-home protection, we must remember to use personal mosquito repellent when we are outdoors away from home.

But hey, try the app when it’s available!

Also read: Where did EEE originate?

Dave Macchia, Central Mass Mosquito Control Expert