Bloodsucker gets new name – Sveriges Radio

So far, the blood-sucking mosquitoes only had Latin names and lumped together in the group mosquito.

But now mosquitoes researcher Anders Lindstrom at the National Veterinary Institute (SVA) ensured that the 49 species found in Sweden also have Swedish names.

-As researchers, it is a way to communicate results with the media and with the public. Vårsvämmyggan which makes problems at lower Dalälven will otherwise always called different things, says Anders Lindström.

Mosquitoes can be shared into different groups depending on their normal residence and ecology. The names can also take note of how nature looks or to other factors:

• eating habits – frog mosquito sucks for example, only the blood of frogs and toads;
• The specific ecological characteristics – tree hole mosquito lay their eggs in water filled tree hollows;
• where they will occur – light banded coastal mosquito is usually in coastal areas.
• the combination of different properties – forest bird mosquito is a species found in the forests and prefer bird blood.

Malaria mosquitoes get r their new Swedish name from the old Swedish word for them, frossmygga.

– Although we had malaria in Sweden until 1930, the risk of spread of infection is now minimal. Therefore, I chose a less charged names, although shivering is an old Swedish name for malaria, says Anders Lindström in a press release.

P4 Västerbotten / P4 Gavleborg / TT
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