Blog Post #4: New Insights

 Much of my internship experience this summer has been devoted to time in the lab, looking at a microscope, and identifying mosquitoes. As I've spent more time behind the scope, I have come to realize there are life lessons to be gleaned from mosquito identification, and scientific work as a whole. 

First, allow me to paint a picture for you of what sitting down and identifying mosquitoes actually looks like. I arrive to the lab in the morning, toting my coffee in one hand and my lunch in the other. I sit down at my stereoscope, twist on the illuminator, and flip the switch to turn on my cold plate. The cold plate allows for samples that I am looking at to stay cold and well preserved. Then, I venture over to the freezer (which is kept at a whopping -82 degrees F). I gather the samples I'll be working on throughout the day, and set them on the table next to my scope. These samples are kept on dry ice, so they stay frozen for the whole day even outside of the freezer. I take a collection cup that contains samples from various sites, and empty the mosquitos in that cup onto a petri dish. I can usually identify about 150-250 mosquitos per dish. Once the mosquitos are in a pile on the dish, I begin sorting them into piles based on species. While I have gotten good at identification and can identify most species without a taxonomic key, I do keep one handy just in case I get a particularly perplexing mosquito. 

Now that the scene is set, I can begin to share with you some lessons mosquito identification has taught me. Some mosquitoes are easily identifiable. For example, the Aedes vexans species has distinct bi-lobes on its abdomen and small leg banding just below each joint. The Coquillettidia perturbans has a blunt abdomen, very wide leg banding, a banded proboscis (the proboscis is the thing that sucks blood out of a host), and black and white scaling on the wings. However, other mosquitoes require that you pay a little more attention to detail, and these may take more time to identify. Notably, one of the species I spend a lot of time working with, Culiseta melanura, is distinguishable by one, singular, minute detail. Armpit hairs. Yes, you read that correctly. The melanura can be identified by a blunt abdomen, strongly curved proboscis, and a tiny patch of hair (or setae in the mosquito world) that lays on the second vein of the wing just below the armpit. However, the Culiseta melanura is not to be confused with the Culiseta morsitans, which has a blunt abdomen, curved proboscis, armpit hair, AND leg banding. The morsitans is also slightly larger and darker. Or, the only way to discern between the Ochlerotatus intrudens and Ochlerotatus excrucians is by looking at the most minute of details. The detail? (mosqui)Toes. Yup, the defining factor between these two species of mosquito(e) is to look at their toes (sorry, I couldn't resist the pun). Specifically, the toenail of their front legs. The intrudens toenails are parallel, while the excrucians toenail is not parallel. 

Having to discern between these incredibly small details on already tiny insects has allowed me to appreciate the little things a little bit more. Even the most miniscule aspects of a problem or a puzzle are important contributing factors to the final solution. As such, taking the time to be patient and observe the seemingly modest elements can help paint a much larger picture. 

In the same breadth, I've found that one can get bogged down in the smaller details, because there are numerous small things to get lost in. Sometimes, I'll be in such a groove of looking at armpit hairs, that I won't even zoom my stereoscope out to look at the whole mosquito. I merely search for armpit hairs (or lack thereof). If I spend some time searching for armpit hairs and don't find any I'll zoom out. Once I take a look at the whole mosquito, I realize that I shouldn't have been looking for armpit hairs in the first place! If I had taken the time to zoom out and look at the big picture, then I would have realized what features of the mosquito I should have been searching for instead. This brings me to the second lesson mosquito identification has taught me. The devil may be in the details, however it's important not to miss the forest for the trees. Sometimes, I jump head into a problem and try attacking smaller details. Yet, there is importance in taking the time to step back, and think about the problem as a whole. 

The third lesson has less of a story is more of an overarching theme. Mosquito ID has taught me patience. Teaching my eyes to look for the nuance of each species is challenging, and allowing myself the time to get better at that is a practice of patience. Overall, these lessons can be applied to a lot of other scientific problem solving. Furthermore, I can use these lessons in my everyday relationships and approach to life. 

Until next blog, cheers!