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Comment by gchamonlive | Hacker News Reader

I am no biologist, but my guess is that if mosquitoes were extinct, some spider species would too, birds would also be affected, and so on.

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There are many species of mosquitos, only a few of them bite people, even fewer live in cities and less than a handful transmit disease. We could start by killing the latter group.

Or breed biteless versions of the biting mozzies?

Are there any mosquitos that live entirely on blood?

Only female mosquitos suck blood, and they only suck blood when developing eggs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito#Egg_development_and_b...

Dragonflies are pretty ferocious predators of mosquitos where they coexist, and I think I remember reading that dragonfly larvae also prey on mosquito nymphs, although don't quote me on that until I find a cite.

A layer further up, many birds include dragonflies in their diet. And a layer further down, fewer dragonflies means more of everything else they prey on, too.

Wolf spiders will take over. I don't think many people will be happy that they've traded small web slinging spiders for 2" diameter hairy ground spiders.

Wolf spiders do not hunt mosquitoes. The smaller ones may hunt flies, roaches and other terrestrial insects. Weavers will feast on all flying insects, but mosquitoes who are too small.

I know, so getting rid of mosquitoes would get rid of their spider predators, letting would spiders take over.

And bats

Yeah, they can go extinct too. That would have saved us a global pandemic or two.

Why not wipe out pigs and birds, too? That will take care of some more pandemics.

Hope you are not too attached to any of the following crops, which would die off without bats: cacao, peaches, bananas, guava, mango, dates, and figs.

> Hope you are not too attached to any of the following crops, which would die off without bats: cacao, peaches, bananas, guava, mango, dates, and figs.

Fruit bats and mosquito-eating bats are different bats.

Responding to someone saying bats can go extinct. They didn’t specifically mention a type of bats, so it seems it’s out of hatred for bats in general.

that is what Romans did, turning the landscape into a desert, wiping out every civilization that opposed them, and calling it peace.

Sure, no life, means no disease, but that is not really sustainable, isn't it?

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