External structure
It's easy to recognize a mosquito when it lands on your hand and bites you. Most people do not pay close attention to this insect, instead trying to swat it the moment it bites. If you spend a little time, you will see that members of the Culicidae family do exhibit common traits.
Mosquitoes belong to the suborder Nematocera - true flies with long antennae. Their antennae have 6 or more segments. The male's antennae are quite pubescent, providing a large surface area for detection of females. Female whiskers are short-haired.
Mosquito wings have scales along the veins and edges. The mouth parts - a long proboscis - allow adult individuals to drink nectar, and in the case of the female, blood.
Species Culicidae
The following types are known to science:
- ordinary;
- Karamora;
- anopheles;
- chionei;
- two-striped biter;
- bell;
- meadow
Common and Karamora
A mosquito is an annoying insect. Adults of the common species reach sizes of 3−8 mm. Only females engage in “vampirism” in order to continue the family line. Males are safe for human health, as they feed only on plant juices. Another thing is females, who in their blood can carry pathogens of such serious diseases as meningitis and infectious eczema.
Some types of mosquitoes are carriers of dangerous diseases
The kakamora, or centipede, prefers moist habitats. This could be thickets of thick grass, a swamp, or a coastal area near rivers and lakes. The size of these insects is 4-8 cm. It is due to their significant size that the caramora is often mistaken for an analgesic mosquito. But people don't have to worry about centipedes because they don't bite.
It will be useful for people suffering from squeak bites to know what else mosquitoes eat. Insects of this species do not consume blood, but only plant sap. But it is “vegetarian cuisine” that can cause mosquitoes to harm agricultural land.
Particular damage can be expected not from adults, but from their larvae. The voracious caterpillars consume everything in their path - algae in the pond, young growth in the thickets and tender seedlings in the fields.
The Karamora mosquito is often confused with a malaria mosquito, but in fact it feeds only on plant foods
Anopheles, or malaria mosquito
Many people on the planet have heard about malaria mosquitoes. Most insects of this breed can be carriers of infections and parasites . The insect got its name due to the spread of the malarial pathogen, Plasmodium. Anopheles does not differ from the usual squeaker in size; only if you look closely, you can notice the longer hind legs. They prefer habitats near water bodies. Females need water to lay their young.
Two-banded biter
This type of mosquito can be found everywhere except in the harsh climate of Antarctica. As habitats, these small insects prefer the shade of forests and the tundra zone. The biter can be distinguished from other species by two bright stripes running along the body and legs.
Females begin laying eggs in the fall. Places are chosen on the banks of rivers and lakes. When the snow begins to melt in early spring, the larvae hatch from the eggs and begin to actively develop in the water. Having reached adulthood, biters can become carriers of infectious diseases.
Chionei and meadow
Winter mosquitoes have a second name - chionei. Externally, they differ from their smaller relatives. Chioneas are similar to arachnids and centipedes, reaching sizes of 10−20 mm. These insects are found all year round, hence their name - winter mosquitoes. They are found in stumps and caves with high humidity, and eat organic decay products.
The swamp, or meadow, does not consider humans as a source of blood. They feed exclusively on plant nectar. For laying eggs, females choose wet moss, damp soil surface and ponds. The larvae can absorb decay products of algae and other substances, and also act as predators. Adult individuals choose wet forests, water meadows and swamp thickets as their habitat.
Zvonets or jerk
Among all the insects of this species, there is one representative who is most unlucky. This is a bell to which nature has assigned the shortest life cycle - 2-5 days .
This is interesting: how long does a mosquito live?
The dergun mosquito also prefers the humid climate of thickets, especially swampy areas or the coastal zone of rivers and lakes. This harmless insect is often colored yellow, green, and sometimes brown. The creature is endowed with long legs. Most often, individuals move in clouds over the surface of the water, without causing inconvenience to humans and animals. Plants and their products are eaten.
Nature has generously populated the world of insects, among which there are both absolutely harmless and very annoying representatives.
Life cycle
Mosquitoes undergo a complete metamorphosis in four stages. The female lays eggs in stagnant fresh water; some species lay eggs in moist soil prone to flooding. Within two weeks, the larvae turn into pupae. The pupae cannot feed, but can be active by floating on the surface of the water. Adults emerge after just a few days, and sit on the surface until they are dry and ready to fly. Adult females live from two weeks to two months; adult males can only live for a week.
Diet and reproduction
Males of all types of mosquitoes prefer plant food - nectar, juice or decomposition products. To ensure procreation, females need protein food, which they receive in the form of blood from mammals and birds. Most often, a person plays the role of a victim. By piercing the skin, the female reaches the capillaries and, with the help of a long proboscis, is saturated with blood.
Male mosquitoes, unlike females, prefer to feed on plant foods instead of blood.
At the same time, the female takes measures against blood clotting - she injects a special substance with saliva. The cause of itching, swelling and redness is precisely this saliva.
The life cycle of mosquitoes can be divided into 4 main stages:
- Maturation of the egg, which requires 2−8 days (the female is capable of laying 30−150 pieces).
- The larva grows in water, where it molts 4 times until it turns into a pupa (breathes oxygen and feeds on substances from the reservoir).
- It takes 5 days for the pupa to develop; at the end of this period, its color changes to black.
- The next stage before death is the adult state.
Further existence comes down to reproduction. Among the inhabitants of rural areas, mating occurs during swarming. The males fly out first and wait for the females to appear. After eurygamy, the female flies in search of blood, and then maternal instinct sends her to lay eggs.
Mosquitoes living in cities do not swarm and can mate outside a large group.
Features of mosquitoes
Male mosquitoes use their feathered antennae to sense the specific buzzing sounds of females. The mosquito produces its “buzz” by flapping its wings up to 250 times per second.
Females are looking for owners from whom they can suck blood based on the carbon dioxide and octanol they release, which are formed during breathing and sweat. When the female senses CO2 in the air, she flies upwind until she finds the source. Mosquitoes do not require blood to live, but do require proteins in the blood to lay their eggs.
Mosquitoes of the Culicidae family are found throughout the world except Antarctica, but they require habitats with standing or slowly moving fresh water to reproduce and develop.
What is the purpose of mosquitoes in Nature, what place do mosquitoes occupy in our Ecosystem? How are mosquitoes useful?
Mosquitoes can have both positive and negative effects on the Ecosystem. The beneficial role of the larvae that live in the water is that they serve as food for fish and other animals, including the larger larvae of other species such as dragonflies.
The larvae themselves consume a lot of organic matter in wetlands, helping to recycle nutrients back into the ecosystem.
Adults form part of the diet of insectivores, birds, and bats.
Mosquitoes also help pollinate some flowers when they consume nectar. Adult males feed on nectar; if they disappear, a plant such as the northern orchid may suffer.
Leading Western scientists have not yet thoroughly studied mosquitoes, so it cannot be denied that they may contain useful chemicals that are valuable for future research.
According to Dr. Gilbert Waldbauer in The Handy Bug Answer Book, mosquitoes eat the corpses of insects that drown in water, mosquito larvae feed on waste, reproducing nutrients such as nitrogen, which is necessary for the flourishing of the plant community.
Mosquitoes appear to represent a significant biomass of food for wildlife lower in the food chain. Extinction, if achievable, can have adverse effects on the ecosystem.
Although the mosquito has been a known vector of disease throughout the world, there is hope that mosquito saliva has some potential use in treating heart disease.
Harm
Mosquitoes not only bite and drink blood, but many are also capable of transmitting dangerous diseases such as malaria, mosquito-borne encephalitis and other diseases.
On this page there is material on the following topics:
Mosquito report
Feeding pattern of blood-sucking mosquito larvae
Presentation of blood-sucking mosquitoes
A story about a mosquito
Mosquitoes their life cycle biology report
Questions about this material:
short report about mosquito
Mosquitoes are insects with a thin body (4-14 mm long), long legs and narrow transparent wings (wingspan from 5 to 30 mm). With its jaws, the mosquito cuts a hole in the skin, plunges the proboscis deeper to the level of the blood capillaries, and through the same oral appendages, as if through a collection tube, it sucks blood. They belong to the family of dipterous insects. The oral organs are characteristic of this family: the upper and lower lips are elongated and form a case in which long thin needles are placed (2 pairs of jaws); Males have underdeveloped jaws - they do not bite. Mobile larvae and pupae of mosquitoes live in stagnant bodies of water. Fossil mosquitoes have been known since the Cretaceous period. In the modern world, there are more than 3,000 species of mosquitoes belonging to 38 genera. Mosquitoes are widespread throughout the globe and inhabit all continents except Antarctica. The widest range is the common mosquito (Culex pipiens), which is distributed everywhere where humans, its main victim, are found. Humans have contributed to the spread of various species of mosquitoes throughout the world and their movement over long distances into regions where they are not native. First of all, these are journeys along sea routes, in which eggs, larvae and pupae of mosquitoes are transported in worn-out tires filled with water or containers with cut flowers. The spread of mosquitoes is difficult to control, and even quarantine measures have proven to be ineffective and difficult to implement in practice. Typically, male and female mosquitoes feed on nectar and plant juices, but in many species the females have mouthparts adapted to pierce the skin of their host animals to suck their blood. For most species of mosquitoes, the source of blood is warm-blooded vertebrates. But some species are able to feed on the blood of reptiles, amphibians and even fish. Typically, in the temperate zone, mosquitoes are active from May to October. If there was a lot of snow in the winter, and the spring is early, consistently warm and moderately humid, mosquitoes may appear as early as April. Like all other dipteran insects, mosquitoes have 4 developmental phases: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Moreover, all phases, except adults, live in reservoirs. The feeding of adults is often dual: the females of most mosquito species drink blood, while the males of all mosquito species, without exception, feed on the nectar of flowering plants. Before a female mosquito begins to drink blood, she injects saliva into the skin of her victim, which contains anticoagulants that prevent blood from clotting. It is the mosquito's saliva that causes itching, swelling, redness at the site of the bite, and in some cases, a severe allergic reaction. And it is through saliva that mosquito-borne infections are transmitted. Mosquitoes are carriers of dangerous diseases: malaria, yellow fever, dengue and some encephalitis. Of these diseases, malaria alone is responsible for the death of approximately two million people annually[17]. In addition, their bites can cause itching and an allergic reaction, referred to in medical documentation as an insect bite reaction. For mass mosquito control, the use of environmentally friendly biological preparations based on bacteria has proven to be highly effective. Larval-eating fish are very effective. Mosquitoes are very sensitive to odors, which helps in the fight against them. For example, mosquitoes do not like the smell of tomato tops, fresh walnut leaves, basil flowers, bird cherry, elderberry branches, wheatgrass, anise, cloves, valerian, eucalyptus, lavender, thyme, geranium, mint, cedar oil, birch tar. Another way to combat these infections is to genetically modify mosquitoes, as a result of which they produce non-viable offspring.
