This week, Zhao Li, with the Insect Museum of West China in Chengdu, capital of the southwestern province of Sichuan, received certification from the Guinness World Records, which confirmed a giant mosquito he discovered in June to be the world’s biggest.
Previously, the record holder was a mosquito discovered by British zoologist Mark Carwardine. Carwardine describes in his 2008 book “Animal Records” that the distance between the mosquito’s foreleg and hind leg could reach 23 cm.
But Zhao’s discovery of the mosquito, known as Holorusia mikado, has nabbed the top spot.
The specimen of the mosquito, kept in Zhao’s museum, has a wingspan of 11.15 cm, while the distance between its foreleg and hind leg is 25.8 cm.
Holorusia mikado, the biggest kind of mosquito, was originally discovered in Japan. Zhao said that such giant mosquitos barely suck on blood. Instead, they feed on honey flower.
“Actually, in English, it is not called a mosquito,” Zhao said. “It is called a crane fly. Meanwhile, people in Germany call it a ‘long-legged father’.”
The Insect Museum of West China keeps more than 700,000 items, including insect specimens, fossils and cultural relics.
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