Rita's pesky offspring are here — and they're hungry

Oct. 6, 2005, 12:02AM

Rita's pesky offspring are here — and they're hungry

Salt-marsh mosquitoes spawned by the storm surge can ride it far inland

By LEIGH HOPPER
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

Bug expert Jim Olson calls them "instant mosquitoes."

A massive hatching of far-flying salt-marsh mosquitoes up and down the Gulf Coast — spawned by Hurricane Rita's storm surge — has arrived in Houston, plaguing anyone who ventures outdoors.

"Add water, wait seven days and cover (yourself) up," said Olson, a professor in entomology at Texas A&M University. "Because they're coming to town hungry, by the millions."Hurricane Rita's mosquito-making ability was not limited to the storm-struck areas, where the U.S. Air Force has been called in to spray for the nuisance insects.

The hurricane pushed water into marshes the entire length of the coast, Olson said, wetting dormant eggs laid in soil or on plants.

The surge traveled up bayous, feeding inland marshes such as one near Friendswood and another behind Six Flags AstroWorld. That water increased the reach of the fall equinox tides, which in normal circumstances lead to salt-marsh mosquito hatching this time of year. Bug-breeding intensified in the Ship Channel and Armand Bayou.

"Those eggs have been sitting in the high marsh for as long as two years waiting for something like this," Olson said.