What Insect Eats Mosquitoes

There are different insects, birds, and plants in the world that eat mosquitoes. If you want to know – what insect eats mosquitoes specifically, then you are in the right place now.

Quick answer: damselflies, dragonflies, and ants eat mosquitoes. They are called the real mosquito’s eater insects in the world.

Here, I will describe the eating habit of these insects (damselflies, dragonflies, and ants) in the article. Again, I will show some of the birds and other animals that eat mosquitoes with their other eating habits.

So, if you want to know a little about mosquito eater insects’ interesting facts and feeding habits, let’s continue this article till the end.

What insect eats mosquitoes

You may sometimes hear the term mosquitoes hawks (crane fly), which is the insect that can eat mosquitoes. Unfortunately, they (crane flies) are harmless insects that don’t eat mosquitoes.

So, you may have a question – what is the specific insect that eats mosquitoes? Well, let’s see table 1, where I share the true insect that eats mosquitoes –

Mosquito eater insects	What they eat?
Damselflies	Mosquitoes, flies, aquatic insects,
Dragonflies	Mosquitoes, midges, moth, nectar,
Ants	Leaves, mosquitoes, other insects, nectar
Mosquitoes hawks (crane fly)	Nectar of Flower, NO MOSQUITOES

Here, the table shows the main feeding habit (diet) of dragonflies, damselflies, ants, and crane flies. The first three true insects (damselflies, dragonflies, and ants) are mosquito eaters.

The crane flies (known as the mosquito hawks) don’t eat any mosquitoes. Rather they prefer to live on the nectar from the plants and flowers.

So, the true insects that eat mosquitoes include – damselflies, dragonflies, and ants.

Now, let’s know a little about these mosquito eater insects (especially about damselflies and dragonflies).

Damselflies – a mosquito eater

Damselflies are considered the true mosquito eater insect in the world. You know damselflies are smaller and weaker insects than these dragonflies.

These damselflies may find around small lakes, ponds, gardens, and where they can hide their feed. There are different popular types of damselflies in the world.

Among them, I would like to enlist the followings damselflies –

• Broad- winged damselflies,
• Spread-winged damselflies,
• Pond damselflies,
• Shadow – damselflies, and
• Thread-tailed damselflies,

Broad winged damselflies

Broad–winged damselflies (jewel wings) are the most spectacular flies in North America and Eurasia. They have metallic green to blue-green bodies with colorful wings.

But, you may also find a clearwing with a black tip with a different extent. You may easily identify these broad-winged damselflies with the help of their wing pattern.

Let’s know some of the broad-winged damselflies that are commonly found in the different parts of the world –

• Sparking jewelwings damselflies,
• River jewelwing damselflies,
• Ebony jewelwings damselflies,
• American rubyspot damselflies,
• Smoky rubspot damselflies, and
• Canyon rubspot damselflies,

You may learn more about these jewel wings damselflies from another article on insectpet.

Spread – winged damselflies

The spread–winged damselflies are the larger flies that are distributed worldwide and hold their wing open. You will find the blue eye in male spread winged damselflies, whereas the female possesses brown or blue eyes.

Among the spread-winged damselflies, you will find the followings species –

• Great spread wings, damselflies,
• California spread wings damselflies,
• Rainpool spread wings damselflies,
• Spotted spread wings damselflies,
• Northern spread wings damselflies,
• Sweetflag spread wings damselflies, and
• Slender spread wings damselflies,

Pond and thread–tailed damselflies

These are the second large damselflies and find all over the world. In almost all species, they have black or dark brown eyes (may vary).

In the pond damselflies, you may find the followings common species –

• Prairie bullet damselflies,
• Subarctic bullet damselflies,
• Taiga bullet damselflies,
• Arroyo bullet damselflies, and
• Claw–tipped bullet damselflies,

On the other hand, thread–tailed damselflies are the smallest flies that possess a thicker body. Most species of thread–tailed damselflies have bright eyes.

Followings are the common species of thread–tailed damselflies in the world –

• Amelia thread tailed damselflies,
• Coral fronted thread tailed damselflies, and
• Orange stripped thread tailed damselflies,

What damselfly insect eats – mosquitoes or others?

You already know that damselfly insect eats mosquitoes. But, you may have a question – what another feed damselfly insect eats except mosquitoes?

Well, let’s see the common diet for the damselfly insects –

• Mosquitoes or mosquito larvae,
• Different types of other flies,
• Different aquatic insects,
• Small fishes and
• Tadpoles (sometimes),

So, damselfly plays a significant role in destroying the mosquito larvae from the environment.

Interesting facts about damselflies

The followings are the exciting facts about the different types of damselflies –

• Most of the damselflies can fold their wings during their rest,
• But, the spread-winged damselflies can hold their wing open while resting,
• Older damselflies don’t bite or sting others,
• The damselflies love to eat mosquitoes and other whiteflies,
• These damselflies make a heart-shaped appearance while mating on a plant,
• They lay eggs on the plant just below the waterline or on vegetation hanging over the water,

Dragonflies – another mosquito eater beneficial insect

Dragonflies are other mosquito eater insects in the world. They are also considered nimble insects, which look scary.

The dragonflies have 2 forms in their lifecycle –

• Wingless lymph form – live for a long time, and
• Older dragonflies – live for a short time,

The wingless lymph form of the dragonflies may spend 1 – 2 years of their lives underwater. When this stage of the dragonflies ends, they become older.

An older dragonfly may survive for a few weeks to a few months. There are different families of dragonflies in the world.

Let’s see the families of dragonflies –

• Petaltail dragonflies,
• Darner dragonflies,
• Clubtail dragonflies,
• Spiketailed dragonflies,
• Skimmer dragonflies,
• Cruiser dragonflies, and
• Emerald dragonflies,

Petaltailded dragonflies are considered the most primitive living dragonflies in the world, which possess the most significant body. As there are 6 different important families of dragonflies, you will see numerous species under them.

Let’s see some of the common dragonflies species in the world –

• Gray petal tail dragonflies – large brownish gray and black dragonflies,
• Black petal tail dragonflies – moderately large black and yellow dragonflies,
• Swamp darner dragonflies – large dark darner with the brown, green striped thorax,
• Springtime darner dragonflies – medium-sized stream darner,
• Riffle darner dragonflies – medium-sized blue marked darner,
• Gray sand dragon – possess blue-gray eyes with a yellow-orange face,
• Pacific spiketail dragonflies – have large, dark, blue eyes,
• Apache spiketail dragonflies – large, green eyes spiketail dragonflies,
• Ebony boghaunter dragonflies – possess pale greenish-gray eyes,
• Desert white-tailed dragonflies – have a black and white broad body,
• Blue corporal dragonflies – small but possess a wide body, and
• Chalk-fronted corporal dragonflies – possess dark brown eyes, black faces, and dark brown thorax,

You may know the other different dragonflies with their external features. On social media of insectpet, you may find different pictures of various dragonflies.

Dragonflies eat mosquitoes

When the wingless nymphs of dragonflies live underwater, they eat everything from the mosquito larvae. They (wingless nymphs of dragonflies) also eat small fishes and tadpoles.

On the other hand, older dragonflies also live on mosquitoes, midges, moths, and nectar. Even they may fly around the ponds and garden to collect their feed.

Interesting facts about dragonflies

Like the damselflies, dragonflies also cannot bite and sting. You will find the below-mentioned unique features (exciting facts) of dragonflies –

• Among the different fastest-flying insects, dragonflies are considered as the fastest insects,
• They can (dragonflies) hover and move rapidly sideways and backward,
• Most of the time, dragonflies use their 6 legs for holding on to things rather than for walking,

You know, dragonflies are considered the beneficial insect or predators for the garden. They can consume lots of mosquitoes every day and keep your garden safe from them.

Sometimes you may confuse about identifying dragonflies from damselflies. These dragonflies and damselflies possess almost similar external features.

These insects have long and slender bodies, compound eyes, two sets of transparent wings, and short antennae. But, the following features may help you to differentiate the dragonflies from damselflies (Table 2) –

Features	Dragonflies	Damselflies
Eyes	Eyes meet in the middle	Possess wide set of eyes
Wings in rest	Hold wings straight out of their bodies,	Hold straight or remain open,
Wings appearance	Normally wide	Narrow or broad

Ants – another mosquito eater insect

You may find different types and sizes of ants everywhere in the world. They play a significant role in nature as they clean up the garden floor and also control other insects.

It is also believed that ants can eat mosquitoes, plants, meats, and others. So, they (ants) are also called the mosquito eater insect worldwide.

Let’s see some of the interesting facts about ants (mosquito eater insects) –

• They (ants) possess large heads and powerful jaws,
• Ants have particular works according to their age and gender,
• They can keep as pet insects,

You may find other interesting facts about different types of ants from another article on insectpet. Again, you will find the full guide on how you may start an ant farm as a beginner.

What are mosquito hawks (crane fly)?

Mosquito hawks are mosquito eaters (who live on eating mosquitoes). And crane flies are considered mosquito hawks; unfortunately, they don’t eat mosquitoes.

An older cranefly looks like a large mosquito with long legs and wings. They are also harmless insects for people as they don’t bite or sting.

You know, the larvae of a cranefly look like a short and thick worm with gray skin. Sometimes this larva of a crane fly is called as the leather jacket. Again, the pupa of a cranefly looks similar to the caterpillar.

There are several species of crane flies worldwide, but the European species is harmful to lawns. The larvae of European crane flies feed on grass and cause damage to lawns.

They eat the roots and shoot off your lawns. In contrast, the older crane flies don’t eat the roots and shoots of the lawns and become harmless.

So, what does the older crane fly insect eats? Does the older crane fly insect eat mosquitoes? Answer is – no; older crane fly insect also doesn’t eat mosquitoes.

Older crane flies are seen to take the nectar from the plants and flowers. Sometimes, you need to control the larvae of crane flies to protect the damage to your lawns.

But natural birds that come to your lawns may eat the larvae of crane flies and reduce the damage.

Birds that eat mosquitoes

As I told you before, different animals, birds, and plants (other than insects) can eat mosquitoes. Here, I will enlist some of the birds that eat mosquitoes as their diet –

• Barn swallows – can eat 800+ mosquitoes per day (or other insects),
• Eastern bluebirds – also eat meal worms, sunflower nectar, and softened fruits,
• Yellow warblers – also eat moths, flies, damselflies, and other insects,
• Purple martins – they have a great interest in eating a large amount of mosquitoes and other different insects,
• Downy woodpeckers – also eat sunflowers seed, peanuts, and other insects, and
• Red-eyed vireo – they love to eat mainly insects, including mosquitoes, flies, bugs, moths, beetles, and others,

Some unknown and uncommon birds in the world also eat mosquitoes.

Birds that eat mosquitoes in Tennessee

Bats and different types of birds like wood duck, great blue heron, Tennessee warbler, and mockingbird eat mosquitoes in Tennessee. Though bats are not under the bird, they can eat numerous mosquitoes per day.

Frequently asked questions on mosquito eaters

In this section, you will find the answer to – what animal, bird, and insect eats mosquitoes. I will provide concise answers to every question on mosquito eater birds, animals, and insects.

Let’s see the frequently asked questions on mosquito eaters, birds, animals, and insects –

Do bats eat mosquitoes?

Yes, bats love to eat mosquitoes. They also eat other different types of insects at night. A single bat can eat 4 – 5 grams of insects every day.

Mosquitoes are the favorite diet for any bats. But they also eat beetles and moths.

Do lizards eat mosquitoes?

Yes, lizards also love to eat mosquitoes very much. If you see the feeding habit of the lizard, you will find that they are very much interested in eating different types of insects.

Among the different insects, lizard love to eat mosquitoes, termites, ants, moths, beetle, and others.

Do moths eat mosquitoes?

There is some evidence of eating mosquitoes by the moths. But, according to their feeding habit, they are interested in eating mosquitoes, but not enough.

Typically, the moths love to eat flower  nectar, honeydew, liquid from rotten fruits, and others.

What eat mosquitoes larvae?

You may have a question – what insect or bird eats mosquitoes larvae? Well, there are different animals, birds, and insects that can eat the larvae of mosquitoes.

I have already enlisted different types of insects, animals, and birds that eat the larvae of mosquitoes. Among these butterflies, damselflies and different birds (Red-eyed vireo and purple martin) are true mosquito hawks or eaters.

What eats mosquitoes in Texas?

As different mosquitoes eater insects, birds, and animals live in Texas; you may enlist all the birds and insects in your list. More commonly, the true mosquito eater like butterflies, damselflies, purple martins, red-eyed vireo, and bats are more common in Texas who eat mosquitoes.

What insects kill mosquitoes?

Damselflies, dragonflies, bats, purple martins, barn swallows, yellow warblers, and eastern bluebirds can kill mosquitoes. These are the natural predators of mosquitoes.

But, if you want to destroy the larvae of mosquitoes, you may use some insect spray and a fogger.

Do fly predators eat mosquitoes?

Yes, fly predators like damselflies, dragonflies, and moths eat mosquitoes. Again, different types of birds, like red-eyed vireo and purple martins, eat the mosquitoes’ larvae and mosquitoes.

Do ladybugs eat mosquitoes?

The feeding habit of the ladybugs is also different, which eat different insects and their eggs. Ladybugs don’t eat any larvae of mosquitoes.

They love to eat small insects like ants, aphids, and others. You know, a ladybug can eat all day long.

They also eat the eggs of different insects. You may keep a ladybug as a pet, and then you might know the full diet for them.

What kind of fly eats mosquitoes?

Dragonflies and damselflies are two major types of flies that can eat mosquitoes. These two flies (insects) also eat nectar, moths, and other aquatic insects.

Suggested articles from insectpet –

• What insect has the longest tongue?
• What insects can make loud buzzing noises during the day, night, and summer?

You may also read other different articles on different insects – including their species, body characteristics, and keep guides.

Conclusion

I think you got the concise answer to your question – what insect eats mosquitoes? So, damselflies and dragonflies are two true insects that eat mosquitoes.

But, these two mosquito-eater insects don’t rely on only the mosquitoes or their larvae. They live on other feeds like the nectar of plants, flowers, midges, moths, and other smaller insects.