What is a Gallinipper?

According to The American Heritage Dictionary:

gal·li·nip·per Listen: [ gl-npr ]
n.  A large mosquito or other insect capable of inflicting a painful bite.   Origin unknown. http://www.yourdictionary.com/ahd/g/g0020700.html

Now, we never thought of them as mosquitoes.  In Kentucky what we call gallinippers are larger and weirder-looking than mosquitoes, with long, draping legs, and they definitely weren't as annoying as mosquitoes.  But one of my sisters once sat on one, and it bit her leg; that's when we learned that gallinippers can bite. 

Please, someone out there, tell me that you've heard of gallinippers!  Here are some websites that have interesting information on gallinippers:

"The barge Gallinipper was one of five ship's boats equipped with sails and double-banked oars in January 1823 for duty with Capt. David Porter's West India Squadron, known as the "Mosquito Fleet," fitted out under an act of Congress approved 20December 1822 to cruise in the West Indies and Gulf of Mexico for the suppression of piracy." http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/g1/gallinipper.htm

"This very large mosquito has very shaggy legs." http://catalog.cmsp.com/data8/it010051.html

"A. L. Adams' 1867 travel book on India referred to that prince of gallinippers, the sandfly, whose bite produces a painful...swelling.' " http://haiku.cc.ehime-u.ac.jp/shiki.archive/9708/1771.html

"Psorophora ciliata (Gallinipper Mosquito)  This is a very large (almost 1/2 inch long), yellowish­brown, floodwater mosquito with shaggy legs (long erect scales on the hind tibiae). It is a vicious biter presenting a rather terrifying appearance due to its large size."  http://ohioline.osu.edu/b641/b641_4.html

I even found a few of books: http://www.bigletterlist.net/w/g/Gallinipper.htm

"BOGGS, JOHNNY D.  Camp Ford: A Western Story....The two greatest teams that ever played were Mr. Lincoln’s Hirelings and the Ford City Gallinippers who played only one game but played for high stakes.  Win’s answer is never published, of course.  Whoever heard of those two teams?  Determined that the world would know about the two teams and the game they played in 1865 in Camp Ford, Texas, when the Union prisoners of war--Mr. Lincoln’s Hirelings--played the Confederate guards--Ford City Gallinippers--Win MacNaughton writes the story of his time as a Confederate prisoner of war when baseball was a new game." http://www.westernwriters.org/aug_reviews.htm  (I just may have to find this old book!!)

And another one I might just have to find: Early Ohioans and Their Critters: “Painters,” “Polecats,” “Gallinippers,” Et Cetera by Barbara Stickley Sour   http://www.heritagebooks.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=HBI&Product_Code=S2533

And I guess that ends today's discussion on Gallinippers!