The question remains, however - what is a haltere? Assumption and my ignorant layman’s grasp of insect anatomy indicates that the haltere is the tiny pseudo-limb just aft of the wings, purpose unknown.

That same basic, ignorant grasp also indicated that I should shoo that skeeter eater off of my monitor, so draw what conclusions you will.

I admit I also suffer from the “giant mosquito” fear syndrome as well but I’ve quashed it to the point that I can poke one but the nagging fear that it will turn and put its needle-sharp beak through my fingernail remains.

My husband and I thought it was a giant mosquito, too, until I was editing the photo and saw the halteres and remembered seeing them before and looked it up here!

Also, “stopped briefly” means “spent two days at various spots on my wall, sometimes in the same spot for hours at a time.” Somewhere along the way it lost a leg, but at that point it was way high up on the wall, so I couldn’t get a battle damage shot.