Nose-picking mosquito is snot nice to Australian frogs

You can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but this Australian mosquito picks a frog’s nose. Researchers in Australia conducting a study on a rare and endangered frog took tons of frog photos while they did their work. Looking through them, they noticed a pattern of mosquitoes, always on the tip of the nose. So to follow up, they conducted a study. Over the course of three years, they observed 3,977 frogs from three species, across 60 ponds. 12 times they saw a mosquito on the frog. In all cases it fed from the nostril of the frog, facing the same direction as the frog itself. Two of the mosquitoes were observed before they started feeding. Both times they landed on the back, then walked up to the nose. Experts looked at the photos and said the mosquito was most likely Mimomyia elegans. Other kinds of mosquitoes (and other parasites like midges) feed from other parts of frogs, so it’s not clear what makes this one different. Researchers hypothesize that landing on the back and walking to the nose is a strategy to avoid being eaten by the frog (they do eat mosquitoes, after all). In fact, the positions of the eyes are such that the frog may have a blind spot there. But why the nostril? Maybe blood is easier to find there? Maybe frogs don’t notice the feeding there as much as other places? Researchers simply aren’t sure. (link)