Gallinipper

This name is sometimes applied to any large mosquito, but it is more correctly applied to Psorophora ciliata, a large and ferocious mosquito inhabiting most of the New World. Apparently it is America’s largest mosquito. It is distinguished not only by its large size and painful bite, but by its hairy or shaggy legs. Interestingly, an American warship was named Gallinipper. It was part of a “mosquito fleet,” a group of small boats, equipped with both sails and oars, which operated from Florida and patrolled the Caribbean in pursuit of pirates in the 1820s.