I remember hearing when I was a kid, that only female mosquitos bite, and only male mosquitos buzz.
Anybody know if this is true or not?
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I’d say no. Anything with wings beating that fast is going to buzz, regardless of gender. I’d also think the mosquitoes you do hear buzzing are more likely to be females since they’re hanging around you with lunch in mind. Dunno what males do but I doubt they’re hanging around you at all, unless they think Minnie over there is one hot mama.
What’s more disconcerting is running across a giant mosquito - one about five times the size of the mosquitoes I was used to in my youth. This was in Alaska; I caught it in a Styrofoam cup to show my co-workers. They were indifferent - apparently it’s a species that preys on other mosquitoes. But hearing that “giant bug” buzz, only to look and see Skeeterzilla hovering right in front of my face… shudder
Cave Diem! Carpe Canem!
Yes, only the female bites because the male does not have the “needle” to do so. The male can feed off pollen and nectar and even the juices of plants. Not all mosquitos are blood eaters, some species never feed on blood. Usually the female needs a blood meal (although its not necessary) before she lays her eggs in shallow water. Five to ten days later and you get a new batch of pests.
What’s the scoop on their size? Some are really small about a fingernail size. Others an inch and sometimes I see them almost 2 inches wide. Are these misquito eaters that eat smaller misquitos? Are males bigger than females?
Giant mosquitoes - now there’s an interesting tangent!
I’ve often heard these called “mosquito hawks” and have been told that they eat other mosquitos.
Well, I decided to do some actual research. Then I realized that would be far too difficult and hit the internet instead.
Apparently these giant mosquitoes are called craneflies. From http://rock.geo.csuohio.edu/norp/bmi2.html#CRANE :
The adult Cranefly looks
like a giant mosquito, and
is often seen clambering
around in the corner of a
ceiling or hanging by it’s
long legs.
According to http://www.lawestvector.org/cranefly.htm , they do NOT eat mosquitoes (and definitely don’t bite).
Oops. I realized they never actually told their size. Usually, the bodies are between one or two inches long and about as wide as a housefly. They have basically the same proportions as mosquitoes, only blow up to about 2 inches long. The legs are all long and dangly, though, and break off very easily.
The legs are all long and dangly, though, and break off very easily.
SadisticWeasel
???
Nah! :O)
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Giant mosquitos
You’re talking, as SW posted, crane flies, I believe. Quite common around here, they do look like 2" mosquitos and are often seen clambering around corners because they fly as if the wings are just strapped on their backs and they’re helpless passengers along for the ride (my own nom for fighter jock of the insect world remains the housefly).
How come mosquitos buzz around my ears? Do they see an ear and go, "Oh wow! An Ear! They are welcome to dine all night if they would just stay away from my ears and let me sleep.
I’ve heard that mosquitos are attracted by your breath ???
Also heard that the pregnate female is the one that bites, and wants nothing to do with the male after she is “with child” Ergo, a radio station, in Florida, plays the mateing sound of the male mosquito, (subliminally) driving away all the female, (biteing) mosquitos? Do you suppose it would be that easy?
I seen craneflies 
they were a common sight up in NH during the summer. The monster bug I caught in AK weren’t no cranefly. This thing was hovering! And when I caught it it looked exactly like a mosquito except bigger. Will have to go find a bug book and see if I can find anything.
Cave Diem! Carpe Canem!
I hear-tell that there are some two hundred plus species of mosquito in alaska…
can’t give any real stats or help, though.
Just another face in the crowd.
Just another name on a list.
That’s all we really seem to be to them.
Just another face in the crowd.
Just another sheep in wolf’s clothes.
Just another guy that’s a gal.
That’s all I really seem to see these days,
just people tryin’ to be something they’re not.
Just another face in the crowd.
Just another name on a list.
They’ve given you a number, and taken 'way your fame…
I’ve also heard that gnats, the little basta…s, gather together for the purposes of breeding.
The males dance in a large swarm, hoping this will make the females find them more attractive. Just because they’re in a large group together.
Says a lot about the nature of Nature.
I think…
“They don’t call Nature a mother just because she got kids…”
I grew up with “skeeterhawks”, too and lemme tell ya, two inches long is nothing. The monsters we have around here (Northern California) get bigger than my hand.
Lately I’ve been giving them a lot of thought -Despite the stories I was told in my youth, it’s pretty obvious that adult craneflies don’t actually eat mosquitoes - they don’t seem to eat much of anything.
BUT – what about the larvae?
ran across the quote below:
“Crane flies are found chiefly in damp habitats with abundant vegetation. Larvae of many species are aquatic or semiaquatic. Others occur in the soil or in fungi, mosses, and decaying wood. Most eat decomposing plant matter, but certain aquatic groups are predaceous…”
If certain species of cranefly have predatory aquatic larvae, is it possible that those babies eat mosquito larvae? Awfully convenient food source, mosquito larvae. Lots of 'em, in any convenient body of water. It would explain why Cranefly and Mosquito populations seem to boom at the same time.
We always just called them skeeter-eaters, But I never saw evidence of them eating a skeeter, even though there were always lots around
Getting back to the OP, please…
I heard that the females buzz (and bite, too); the males, I was told, do neither.
So which is it people? Which gender “does the buzz”?
I spent the past year in Palm Beach, Fla., and there “mosquito hawks” were a species of dragonflies, not large mosquitos. And the dragonflies did eat skeeters.
Perhaps it’s a local thing.
V.
Arctic mosquitos are famous for being huge…a swarm of them can carry off a moose 
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Male mosquitos have very large, plumose antennae for detecting the pheromones of the females. I seem to remember this having something to do with them buzzing more. The females are the ones that eat blood because they need it for egg production. I heard once that the females are attracted to the carbon dioxide that is produced by our bodies. It seeps out of our skin, but the majority is breathed out in respiration and this is why they tend to buzz around our heads.