I am...

It's a larvae of some sort but... what is it really?

 It's mosquito larvae!!! These eggs are first lain into water such as in ponds and rivers, eventually

hatching to consume organisms until it is time for them to molt.

When the larvae I collected finally grew to become mosquitoes, I decided to investigate one up close. 

mosquito stylets  100X

Here the mosquito's mouth (also known as proboscis) is actually very hairy and actually has almost 150 different receptor proteins that detect where the best location to suck your blood is.

mosquito  stylets 100X

As you can see here, there is actually more than one needle that we assume is the mosquito's mouth!

6 thin spearlike parts called stylets are actually what forms the mouth as seen above. These include two maxillae, two mandibles, a hypopharynx, and a labrum. 

mosquito  stylets 400X

Each of the six stylets acts as an aid in drilling a hole for the labrum to become a straw, allowing the mosquito to drink the blood so quickly that some of the blood vessels actually collapse. 

To start, the maxillae are small teeth that cut through your skin but because they are so sharp. we are no able to feel it. Next, the mandibles pry the tissues apart for the straw to take in blood. After the consumption of blood, the hypopharynx drips the mosquito's saliva back into our skin, which while it allows our blood to circulate, also blocks immune responses and causes the itchy welts we usually

receive after a mosquito attack.

mosquito  stylets dark field 400X