Enormous bloodsuckers invade parts of Florida
Courtesy: Marisol Amador / IFAS / UF & Time Magazine
SEATTLE -- It may sound like something out of a horror movie, but a huge new type of mosquitoes are invading Central Florida.
According Time Magazine, the quarter-sized bugs were first spotted in Seminole County last week.
They're aggressive and "can bite right through your clothing and give you a good pinch, more painful than an ordinary mosquito bite," natural-resources agent Ken Gioeli from the University of Florida told West Palm Beach-based WPTV back in March.
Time Magazine said entomologists with the University of Florida warned that these large mosquitoes may appear this summer.
The magazine said the native species, called the Psorophora ciliata or gallinipper, may weigh up to 20 times the size of a typical mosquito and are even more aggressive.
It's believed heavy rains from tropical storms Debby and Andrea may have hatched the oversized mosquito eggs that can lay dormant for years.