More mosquitos this summer?

Cute but contagious, And coming, sadly, to a cave somewhere near you
May 21st 2009
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
From The Economist print edition

SWINE flu may get the headlines; but white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that shows as a powdery pattern on the face, wings and legs of bats, is moving far more swiftly across America. Bat colonies have been decimated in at least seven states: New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. At least half a million bats have died, depriving the country—particularly in the spring and summer months—of a natural pesticide. Bats consume huge quantities of insects: as much as their own body weight during a night aloft. The Forest Service estimates that the die-off from white-nose syndrome means that at least 2.4m pounds of bugs (1.1m kg) will go uneaten.

The effects of the disease, though, go beyond an itchy evening in the garden. Without bats, farmers may have to use more insecticide, raising environmental worries and pushing up grocery prices. And white-nose syndrome could threaten already endangered species, such as Indiana bats, tiny creatures with pink noses that flutter from the north-east to the mid-Atlantic, and the big-eared bat, the official state bat of Virginia. the rest image