The blood-sucking insect that has been harassing Dokdo security guards for over 70 years has been confirmed to be a new species of mosquito that only lives on Dokdo.
On the 17th, the National Institute of Biological Resources under the Ministry of Environment, together with Professor Bae Yeon-jae of Korea University and his research team, conducted a project to investigate and discover native organisms in 2022 and confirmed that the blood-sucking insect in question was a new species of insect belonging to the order Diptera, the family Diptera, and the genus Mosquito. It was announced that it was named ‘ Emogi ( Culicoides dokdoensis )’.
This species has a body length of 2~3mm and is not conspicuous, so it has been mistaken for a midget. The late Kim Young-bok, who served in the Dokdo Volunteer Guard in the 1950s, also recalled in his testimony about his life on Dokdo, “There were so many socks,” and “even if I wore two or three pairs of socks in the summer, the socks would get through.”
In the case of the Dokdo-spotted mosquito, unlike the midget, which cannot eat anything due to its degenerated snout, adults eat plant juice or honey, and females during the egg-laying season tear the skin and capillaries of vertebrates with their teeth and suck blood.
The Dokdo Spotted Mosquito is characterized by a black dot within the first white dot on the front of the wing. The larvae are highly adaptable enough to카지노사이트 live in puddles containing rotting animal corpses, and the adults are attracted to light.
The research team recently submitted information on the morphology and ecology of the Dokdo-pointed mosquito, named after Dokdo, to the international journal Entomological Research , and plans to register it on the National Species List at the end of this year.
Seo Min-hwan, Director of the National Institute of Biological Resources, said, “It is significant that this study revealed the true nature of the insects that have been harassing the Dokdo guards for the first time in 70 years.” “We will explore management measures that take into account the ecological characteristics of the river,” he said.
Dong-rip Ahn, a Dokdo researcher and CEO of Dongajido, said, “If it tickles, you have to scratch it until it bleeds, or else you have to pick it with a needle. He described his experience of being bitten by a mosquito on Dokdo Island, saying, “The fluid flows sideways,” and “My whole body feels itchy.”