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I am surprised that I should be surprised. Aren't mosquitoes a well known nuisance in Greenland, which despite the name is colder than Iceland? I would have e

I am surprised that I should be surprised. Aren't mosquitoes a well known nuisance in Greenland, which despite the name is colder than Iceland? I would have expected that mosquitos in Iceland were also entirely normal. TIL.

IncreasePosts 1y ago
Greenland is pretty close to the main body of North America, they would only need to traverse 30 miles of water to get there. Whereas Iceland is about 200 miles from the closest point in Greenland.
- fluoridation 1y ago
  Not sure Ellesmere Island counts as part of the main body of NA. If you exclude the Northern edge of Greenland, which also the most hostile I would assume, Greenland is about as close to NA as to Iceland.
- ant6n 1y ago
  Actually there’s a land border between Canada and Greenland.
j_bum 1y ago
This travel blog was posted a bit ago on HN [0]. Much of the nature of Greenland was a shock for me to learn about, including the severe mosquitos. [0] https://matduggan.com/greenland-is-a-beautiful-nightmare/ https://matduggan.com/greenland-is-a-beautiful-nightmare/
- ant6n 1y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45396754 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45396754
- ljf 1y ago
  Midges and mosquitos are different things. And biting midges have only been in Iceland for 10 years or so. https://www.icelandreview.com/news/iceland-marks-ten-years-of-biting-midges https://www.icelandreview.com/news/iceland-marks-ten-years-o...
somenameforme 1y ago
Siberia is also known to have just extremely brutal mosquito seasons. Turns out even -40C isn't enough to do away with the little persistent blood suckers.
- jb1991 1y ago
  And Alaska.
  - HowardStark 1y ago
    Nothing killed my dream of a private island in Alaska quite so fast as elephant mosquitoes[0] [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxorhynchites_rutilus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxorhynchites_rutilus
    - capitainenemo 1y ago
      The wikipedia article you linked to says that the adults of that species feed only on nectar and do not suck blood.
      - dredmorbius 1y ago
        ... and have a range largely in the south-eastern United States. Which isn't quite where Alaska is located.
        capitainenemo 1y ago
        Good point. I wonder if they'd heard about huge mosquitoes up north and just looked for first wikipedia article about large mosquitoes. Maybe they were thinking of this one. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culiseta_alaskaensis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culiseta_alaskaensis This one had a large size and was a blood sucker, but wrong side of the continent again. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psorophora_ciliata https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psorophora_ciliata
noselasd 1y ago
Iceland does have a lot of gnats, midges, flies etc. that are just as big a nusance.

IncreasePosts 1y ago

Greenland is pretty close to the main body of North America, they would only need to traverse 30 miles of water to get there. Whereas Iceland is about 200 miles from the closest point in Greenland.

fluoridation 1y ago
Not sure Ellesmere Island counts as part of the main body of NA. If you exclude the Northern edge of Greenland, which also the most hostile I would assume, Greenland is about as close to NA as to Iceland.
ant6n 1y ago
Actually there’s a land border between Canada and Greenland.

j_bum 1y ago

This travel blog was posted a bit ago on HN [0]. Much of the nature of Greenland was a shock for me to learn about, including the severe mosquitos. [0] https://matduggan.com/greenland-is-a-beautiful-nightmare/ https://matduggan.com/greenland-is-a-beautiful-nightmare/

ant6n 1y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45396754 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45396754
ljf 1y ago
Midges and mosquitos are different things. And biting midges have only been in Iceland for 10 years or so. https://www.icelandreview.com/news/iceland-marks-ten-years-of-biting-midges https://www.icelandreview.com/news/iceland-marks-ten-years-o...

somenameforme 1y ago

Siberia is also known to have just extremely brutal mosquito seasons. Turns out even -40C isn't enough to do away with the little persistent blood suckers.

jb1991 1y ago
And Alaska.
- HowardStark 1y ago
  Nothing killed my dream of a private island in Alaska quite so fast as elephant mosquitoes[0] [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxorhynchites_rutilus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxorhynchites_rutilus
  - capitainenemo 1y ago
    The wikipedia article you linked to says that the adults of that species feed only on nectar and do not suck blood.
    - dredmorbius 1y ago
      ... and have a range largely in the south-eastern United States. Which isn't quite where Alaska is located.
      - capitainenemo 1y ago
        Good point. I wonder if they'd heard about huge mosquitoes up north and just looked for first wikipedia article about large mosquitoes. Maybe they were thinking of this one. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culiseta_alaskaensis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culiseta_alaskaensis This one had a large size and was a blood sucker, but wrong side of the continent again. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psorophora_ciliata https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psorophora_ciliata

noselasd 1y ago

Iceland does have a lot of gnats, midges, flies etc. that are just as big a nusance.