Click the speaker to hear the Mosquito!MOSQUITO (Family Culcidae)
Click the speaker to hear the Mosquito!
WHAT IS AN INSECT? A mosquito is an insect. This means it has no backbone, has six legs, and
has three body parts (head, thorax (middle), and abdomen (back end). It also means that mosquitoes go through a
metamorphosis or series of changes while they’re growing up. Mosquitoes start as eggs, then become larvae
(called wrigglers), then become a pupa, then become an adult.
WHAT IS A MOSQUITO? While it doesn’t look much like a fly, the
mosquito is a kind of biting fly. There are
many different kinds of mosquitoes, and each prefers to live in its own special habitat. For example, the most aggressive mosquito at the
Pelotes Island Nature Preserve is a Salt Marsh Mosquito and has long striped legs!
WHY DO MOSQUITOES
BITE? Only the females bite and suck blood. They use the blood proteins to make their babies. The males are nectar-feeders and do not bite. Mosquitoes usually bite the most at dawn and dusk. During the day, they just rest on hollow trees,
stumps, or ditches. They don’t usually
fly more than 1 mile from their resting spot. The
females usually suck blood from mammals, including people.
HOW DO THEY
REPRODUCE? Two or three days after the female mosquito has
eaten, she can lay about 200 eggs on the surface of the water. This water can be in a puddle, a pond, or even a
salt marsh. The eggs float around until they
stick to some grasses. It usually takes 2-3
days for the babies (wrigglers) to hatch. They
eat very tiny plants and animals in the water. After
they have eaten enough, the wrigglers become a pupa. Inside
the pupa, they change from a wriggler into an adult mosquito in less than a week. Some female mosquitoes survive the winter, but many
only live for 25 days. Often, the males only
live for a week.
CAN MOSQUITOES
TRANSMIT DISEASES? Mosquitoes can transmit some diseases like West
Nile Virus and encephalitis to people and heartworms to dogs. They can NOT transmit AIDS because their stomachs
digest the AIDS virus as food. By digesting
it, the mosquito kills the virus, so it can’t be passed on.
HOW CAN YOU AVOID
MOSQUITO BITES? The best way to avoid getting bitten by mosquitoes
is to wear insect repellent when you are outside in the spring, summer, and fall. They are attracted to carbon dioxide, which is in
the air we breathe out. If you’re in an
area with lots of mosquitoes, try talking less. This
will produce less carbon dioxide and make you less attractive to the mosquitoes.