[5] As their name suggests, these mosquitoes commonly lay their eggs in treeholes where their larvae are predators on a variety of arthropods.

As with other mosquitoes, they also inhabit other bodies of stagnant water such as in a tire or artificial containers.

Both adult males and females are strictly nectar-feeding and so they do not have a role in the transmission of pathogens to animals as in other mosquitoes.

[7] Instead, their larvae are predacious and could potentially help curb the spread of diseases via vector mosquitoes.

Their larval feeding preferences make them of special interest to biological control scientists and entomologists.

rutilus: While the phylogenetics of the genus Toxorhynchites have not been completely studied, several phylogenetic studies using a variety of targets including the white gene, ribosomal DNA, and small subunit ribosomal DNA placed Toxorhynchites as its own subfamily sister to Culicinae.

[7][12][17] The adult mosquitoes have iridescent purple and golden scales on their abdomen, wings, and legs.

rutilus is holometabolous, meaning they undergo complete metamorphosis over four life stages - egg, larva, pupa, adult.

rutilus are strictly nectar-feeding, but there have been no studies on their nectar preferences or on their role in pollination.

[13] Their salivary glands are morphologically different from those genus such as Aedes, Anopheles, and Culex mosquitoes.

Since the adult mosquitoes do not feed on blood, all the proteins and fats required for successful oogenesis is acquired from the larval diet.

Because the eggs are hydrophobic, they float on the surface of the water where they incubate for 24 to 50 hours, depending on the subspecies and temperature.

[20] This makes them a worse candidate for biological control than other Toxorhynchites species, especially in urban areas where common target breeding sites will be brightly colored man-made containers.

[21] Larvae use mechanoreceptors to detect and ambush moving prey and have modified mandibular mouthparts for predation.

[5] Natural prey of the larvae include the eastern treehole mosquito Aedes triseriatus.

[22] To survive the reduced prey available during the colder months, the larvae overwinter in their fourth instar and typically weigh more.

[10][17][23] Diapause is induced when the first instar larvae experiences shorter periods of daylight, not from a decrease in temperature.

[11] Although it is thought that the larvae has preference for different species of mosquito prey, there has not been extensive studies on the hypothesis.

Because of their low egg laying rate, long larval development, and tendency to cannibalize their siblings, not many adults exist at a single time.

[6] A strategy to help boost the population of Toxorhynchites is to rear the species in the lab and release them to the field.

rutilus are native to the Southern United States, covering regions in Florida and South Carolina.