The Wikipedia article of the day for January 29, 2026 is Opifex fuscus.Opifex fuscus is a species of mosquito that is endemic to New Zealand. They occur along the coast, where their larvae live in rock pools within the spray zone. To survive in this habitat, the larvae are able to tolerate a wide range of water salt concentrations. The larvae feed on algae and decomposing matter. They also have mouthparts that specialise towards either filter feeding or grazing, depending on what food sources are available to them. As adults the females feed on the blood of birds and humans. They have an unusual mating system where the males wait on the surface of the rock pools and mate with female pupae before they have matured into adults. They are widespread throughout the rocky coasts of New Zealand but have been displaced from the Otago region by the introduced species Aedes australis. The larvae are also known to be infected by the fungus Coelomomyces psorophorae, which uses copepods as intermediate hosts.
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