Each of us is familiar with such blood-sucking insects as mosquitoes. However, few people know what the life cycle of such creatures consists of. Let's figure out where the mosquito comes from? What danger does an insect pose to humans? How long does an ordinary mosquito live ?
General information
A mosquito is a tiny insect, has a pair of transparent wings, six long legs and a proboscis, through which it is fed. The body consists of the cephalothorax, where the internal organs are concentrated. The elongated abdomen serves to concentrate the blood received by the insect from the victim’s body.
Mosquitoes are truly unique creatures. They live all over the globe. The only exceptions are the Antarctic latitudes, where the life of a mosquito becomes impossible due to too low ambient temperatures, lack of conditions for food and reproduction of offspring. In total, researchers registered about 3,000 individual species of mosquitoes.
Mosquito feeding
What makes such insects drink the blood of other living things? It is immediately worth noting that only females are distinguished by bloodthirstiness in this vast family. And even then this happens only with the onset of the period of active reproduction.
Males are not bloodsucking. Their nourishment is flower nectar.
Females like not only human blood. They do not disdain to stick to any mammals. It has been proven that these insects often feed on the blood of birds and even reptiles.
As can be seen, the male and female mosquitoes have differences in terms of food choice. For females, blood is not only a source of precious vital energy. It is also a storehouse of protein, which is an indispensable material for the reproduction of offspring.
According to some people, after drinking blood and laying off larvae in water, a mosquito will certainly die. In reality, this happens only with starving females. Not finding food, they spend the last energy to create masonry, deplete their own body, and then die. On the contrary, a well-fed female mosquito processes the blood of its victims into nutrients, which makes it possible to maintain viability for a long time and to lay 200-300 eggs every few days.
How do mosquitoes look for prey?
Where does the mosquito come from, or rather, how does it manage to find potential victims, being at considerable distances from them? The blood-sucking insect owes this ability to the presence of antennae on the head, which play the role of a specific olfactory organ. More than 7 dozen receptors are concentrated here, which makes it possible to recognize the smell of mammals at kilometer distances. If the female mosquito is located a hundred meters from the alleged victim, she can be guided by a train of carbon dioxide that occurs when the mammal breathes. In addition, these insects learned to “see” objects in the infrared spectrum. For this reason, mosquitoes without any problems find a victim in pitch darkness.
Life cycle
Where does the mosquito come from? Before becoming an adult, an insect goes through several successive stages of development. To begin with, a female mosquito lays eggs in a humid environment. Most often, standing water is preferred. Soon, larvae form here. At this time, a young mosquito could not be distinguished from a miniature worm of a reddish hue. The latter feeds on microorganisms that are contained in water.
In a week, the mosquito larva transforms into a chrysalis, which grows special tubes for breathing atmospheric oxygen. In this state, the individual remains until it has wings. It takes several days. Having become a full-fledged two-winged mosquito, the insect goes on free flight and immediately proceeds to an active search for food.
How long does an ordinary mosquito live?
According to scientists, the life conditions of such an insect are affected primarily by temperature conditions.
The cooler the mosquito habitats, the longer they last. For example, at an air temperature within +25 degrees, a female can live a little more than 40 days. With cooling of the surrounding space to -10 degrees, this period increases to 115 days.
At the same time, male and female mosquitoes have different life spans. Males die on average twice as fast. Why is this happening, the researchers have so far failed to determine. However, if the mosquito fully has enough nutrients for existence, its life span is significantly increased.
Interesting Facts
The following will be interesting to learn about these tiny “vampires”:
- Mosquitoes are one of the oldest insects that ever inhabited the planet. Flying bloodsuckers existed in the era of dinosaurs.
- Mosquitoes have six paired legs. Each of them contains a suction cup, which provides the insect with the ability to hold on any plane.
- The largest mosquito in the world is the centipede. Presented insect can grow up to 6 cm or more. Unlike bloodsuckers that we are familiar with, centipedes produce offspring in a wooded area, leaving clutches in moist moss, where the mosquito comes from.
- There is a unique variety of so-called “winter” mosquitoes. Representatives of the species are able to be active exclusively at low ambient temperatures - about -5 degrees. In case of warming, such mosquitoes die.
- Within a second, these insects produce up to 500 wing movements. The result is the appearance of a characteristic squeak, by which we know such bloodsuckers.
- It is believed that female mosquitoes are more attracted to people who drank alcohol. This is probably due to the fact that alcohol causes an increase in body temperature, provokes the active release of carbon dioxide from the tissues.
- At a time, a mosquito can drink about 5 mg of blood.
Why are mosquito bites dangerous for humans?
During a bite, a mosquito injects an anticoagulant into the victim’s tissue, which slows down blood coagulation. There are certain categories of people who experience allergic reactions in contact with this substance. Multiple bites of blood-sucking insects for such persons carry a mortal danger. The result is often blood intoxication with an anticoagulant and anaphylactic shock.
Blood-sucking mosquitoes are known as carriers of serious diseases. Such insects transport on the proboscis not only all kinds of infections, but also microscopic parasites. All this often leads to the development of tropical fevers, encephalitis, malaria, and hepatitis in people. For this reason, it is important to be careful when repelling mosquitoes with special repellents or odorous agents in the form of eucalyptus, peppermint or geranium.