Crab-burrow-inhabitant
Guides
Deinocerites cancer
Crabhole mosquito, crab hole mosquito
Deinocerites cancer, commonly known as the crabhole mosquito, is a specialized mosquito species that inhabits the burrows of land crabs in coastal environments. First described by Frederick Vincent Theobald in 1901, this species exhibits highly unusual mating behavior in which males copulate with female pupae before or immediately after emergence. The species has a restricted geographic range in the Caribbean, Florida, and parts of Central America, and is tightly associated with mangrove swamps and salt marshes.