A Community Health
How to control Mosquitoes
Part 1: Mosquito life cycle.
There are more than 3 thousand species of mosquitoes, among them three are responsible for the spread of human diseases. Anopheles mosquitoes carry malaria, filariasis (elephantiasis) and encephalitis. Culex mosquitoes carry encephalitis, filariasis, and the
Types of Mosquitoes:
- Anopheles mosquito : These tend to breed in bodies of permanent fresh water. Anopheles mosquitoes also have abdomens with pointed tips. They include several species, such as the common malaria mosquito (Anopheles quadrimaculatus), that can spread malaria to humans.
- Culex mosquito : These tend to breed in quiet, standing water. Culex mosquitoes have abdomens without a sharp edge tips. They include several species such as the northern house mosquito (Culex pipiens, Culex quinquefasciatus). They are weak fliers and tend to live for only a few weeks during the summer months. They persistently bite (preferring birds over humans) and attack at dawn or after dusk. Their bite is painful.
- Aedes mosquito : These are sometimes called "floodwater" mosquitoes because flooding is important for their eggs to emerge. Aedes mosquitoes have abdomens with pointed tips. They include such species as the yellow-fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti) and the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus). They are strong fliers, capable of travelling great distances (up to 75 miles / 121 km) from their breeding sites. They persistently bite mammals (especially humans), mainly at dawn and in the early evening. Their bites are painful.
Life Cycle and Breeding :
Like all insects, mosquitoes life cycle begin from eggs and go through several stages in their life cycle before becoming adults. all mosquitoes need water to breed, the females lay their eggs in water, the larva and pupa stages live entirely in water. When the pupa change into adults, they leave the water and become free-flying land insects. The life cycle of a mosquito can vary from one to several weeks depending upon the species, the adult, mated females of some mosquito species can survive the winter in cool, damp places until spring, when they will lay their eggs and die.
- Egg : All mosquitoes lay eggs in water, which can include large bodies of water, standing water, like swimming pools, or areas of collected standing water, like tree holes, gutters, empty containers, bath-cubes, female mosquitoes lay their eggs on the surface of the water, except for Aedes mosquitoes, which lay their eggs above water in protected areas that eventually flood. The eggs can be laid singly or as a group that forms a floating raft of mosquito eggs.
- Larva : The mosquito eggs emerge into larvae, which live at the surface of the water and breathe through an air tube or siphon. The larvae filter organic material through their mouth parts and grow to about 1 to 2 cm long; as they grow, they remove their skin several times. Mosquito larvae can swim and dive down from the surface when disturbed, the larvae live anywhere from days to several weeks depending on the water temperature and mosquito species. We can distinguish the larvae of various mosquito species. Anopheles larvae lie parallel to the surface of the water, while Aedes larvae and Culex larvae extend down into the water, the air tubes of Culex are longer than the air tubes of Aedes.
- Pupa :After the fourth change of the skin, mosquito larvae change into pupae, which live in the water anywhere from one to four days depending on the water temperature and species. The pupae float at the surface and breathe through two small tubes. Although they do not eat, pupae are quite active, At the end of the pupal stage, the pupae cover themselves with pupal cases and transform into adult mosquitoes.
- Adult : Inside the pupal case, the pupa transforms into an adult. The adult uses air pressure to break the pupal case open, crawls to a protected area and rests while its external skeleton hardens, spreading its wings out to dry. Once this is complete, it can fly away and live on the land. One of the first things that adult mosquitoes do is seek a mate, mate and then feed. Male mosquitoes have short mouth parts and feed on plant nectar. In contrast, female mosquitoes have a long proboscis that they use to bite animals and humans and feed on their blood, the blood provides proteins that the females need to lay eggs. After they feed, females lay their eggs, they need a blood meal each time they lay eggs. Females continue this cycle and live anywhere from many days to weeks, males usually live only a few days after mating. The life cycles of mosquitoes vary with the species and environmental conditions.
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