Virtual option continues to be available - see below.

The annual Adult Mosquito Identification Course will take place on Monday, May 12th, 2025 at Chesapeake Mosquito Control Commission’s facility, 1611 Shell Road, Chesapeake, VA 23323 - Admin. Building Training Room. This one-day course starts at 7:00am and lasts until roughly 3:00pm. The class is organized through the VMCA Education Committee with assistance from local Virginia mosquito control biologists as teachers on the topics of mosquito biology and each genus (frequent to our region).

This class is held annually as an introductory training session for seasonal interns, summer part-time biology positions, mosquito biologists new to the area, and/or other mosquito control staff as a cross-training opportunity. Class size is limited to 20 students; attendees should have mosquito control, surveillance and/or identification in their job description and duties. The course is open to VMCA members (as well as affiliated MC associations) to register staff. Sign-up is on a first-come basis, so don’t miss your chance!

Registration instructions: 

Contact VMCA Education Committee Chair, Katherine Pallister, via email (kpallister@cityofchesapeake.net) with your name, the student you are signing up (if not yourself) and your organization. 

Registration closes Friday, May 2. 

A light breakfast and lunch will be provided by the VMCA. If you have dietary restrictions and/or would like to bring your own food, a refrigerator/freezer and microwave are available.

Please see below for the class agenda, student supply list, directions, and more. If you need a copy of the recommended ID Guide, a downloadable (full-text) PDF version is available at www.ncmvca.org. If you are missing anything from the supply list, please notify your course sponsor.

In addition to this year's in-person class, the VMCA will continue to offer the virtual mosquito identification course. The course is conducted through the joint effort of VA mosquito control biologists, FREE, and posted on this page to view at your own pace.

This course is not strict taxonomy but is more of a practical training geared toward seasonal interns, field technicians, or biologists new to the area who will be performing adult mosquito speciation. The course will cover general mosquito information including anatomy, bionomics, diseases, fieldwork concerns, and laboratory protocols. Those species occurring in Virginia will be the focus; genera covered include: Aedes, Anopheles, Coquillettidia, Culex, Culiseta, Orthopodomyia, Psorophora, Toxorhynchites, and Uranotaenia.

Normally when VMCA hosts this course, it is done live and there are hands-on specimen ID sections to practice identifying species in each genera. Therefore, in order to get the most out of this virtual course, it is recommended (not required) that you have access to the following:

• adult mosquito specimens
• microscope
• The Mosquitoes of the Mid-Atlantic Region Identification Guide (Free PDF download available at www.ncmvca.org)
• a biologist or supervisor who can help with hands-on specimen identification and of whom you can ask questions

We hope that you find this course useful and feel free to share it with whomever could benefit. For each presentation below, you may contact each speaker with questions regarding their material if they have listed their contact information within their presentation. If a speaker's contact information is not listed or for any other questions please contact us at virginiamosquito@gmail.com 

Thank you!

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