Want to know more about those buzzing little insects of the night? Here is some information on Mosquito life cycle…
About Mosquitoes
Lets start with an interesting fact: there are 2500 different species of pesky little mosquitoes all over the world. Out of these there are 150 species in the United States of America. Of these 150 species, 52 species are in Sunny California and 19 species are in Alameda County.
The lifecycle of this tiny little insect is quite an interesting one. The most important thing for a mosquito to breed is water…any kind of water, from clean flowing creeks to dirty sewage water. Mosquitoes can breed in form of water; in face water is so important to mosquitoes that most time a mosquito is identified by the water it comes form. The life expectancy of a mosquito depends on a lot of things, its gender, the temperature, the time of year and humidity levels as well. Generally a male mosquito will live for a week whereas a female mosquito can live up to a month.
Mosquito lifecycle
The lifecycle of a mosquito is in four distinct stages. These stages are the egg, larva, pupa and adult stage.
Each stage of the mosquito lifecycle will have a unique and distinct appearance.Here are the stages of a mosquito lifecycle:
- Eggs: the eggs of a mosquito are laid one at a time and can be found floating on the water surface. Depending on the species of the mosquito the eggs can either stuck together in the form of a raft (the culex mosquito lays 200 to 300 eggs to form a raft and the raft can be inch long) or they can be laid separately. Some species even lay the eggs on damp soil, which will be flooded later and makes ideal hatching conditions. There are some species that need to lay their eggs on fresh water surface or stagnant water surface. All eggs hatch within 48 hours of being laid, where as some tiny species of mosquito eggs will hatch within 24 hours.
- Larva: when the eggs are hatched they are called larva or larvae for plural. The common term for mosquito larvae is wigglers or wrigglers. These larvae must live under the surface of the water for a week or two depending on the water temperature, and only come up for air and to breathe, typically a larva will have siphon tubes that allow them to breathe from under the surface of the water. The larva will typically molt 4 times and each time will grow larger, and this is because they are continuously feeding of microorganisms in the water or the organic matter found in the water. The forth molt will then change into a pupa.
- Pupa: this stage is the resting stage and is called the pupal stage. The mosquito pupa is also called tumblers (because if it is disturbed it will dive in a tumbling motion and then surface) and they live in water for 4 da
ys depending on the species. During this stage the pupa will be inactive or resting and does not eat at all. During this time the pupa breathes through breathing tubes called trumpets. This is the time during which the pupa is turning into an adult mosquito. Normally an adult mosquito takes about 48 hours to be fully formed from its pupa stage. When this time period is over and the mosquito is fully developed, the skin of the pupa will tear or split and the mosquito emerges fully developed.
- Adult: as the pupa splits and the adult emerges, the first thing it will do is rest on the water surface, this is so that is dries up and can let its parts harden. It also needs to let the wings spread out and dry up before it can start flying.
More about mosquitoes here
MMmmm…That’s Good Grub Drawing The Motmot
In order to implant an egg into the skin of a warm blooded animal primate (human or otherwise) and get its life cycle going it captures a mosquito on the wing, onto which it lays an egg and then releases.
The mosquito life cycle can only begin in an aquatic environment. The female mosquito lays between 50 and 100 eggs on the water’s surface, and so it begins. Both male and female mosquitoes feed on nectar
Do you know everything about mosquitoes? Everyone knows that mosquitoes suck blood and spread dengue fever. But why do they suck blood? What kind of diseases do they also spread? What is the mosquitoes’life cycle?
