Mosquitoes are in the order Diptera, the true flies. They have a single pair of wings, long think legs, and a head with a prominent proboscis. Their bodies and wings are usually covered in tiny scales. Males use their feathery antennae to locate the females. The female can lay over 100 eggs in a single laying. The wormlike larvae are called wigglers because of their wiggling swimming motion. Wigglers molt into pupae called tumblers because of their tumbling motion in the water. Adult mosquitoes emerge onto the water surface where their exoskeleton hardens.
Mosquitoes use our exhaled carbon dioxide, our body odors as well as temperature and movement to find someone to bite. Only the females are equipped with the mouthparts for sucking blood. They bite with their proboscis stabbing two tubes into the skin. One tube injects an enzyme that inhibits blood clotting while the other tube sucks blood into their bodies. They use the blood to provide protein that helps generate their eggs. Both males and females eat nectar and other plant sugars as their primary food source.
Out of 3,000 species of mosquitoes only three genera spread human diseases. All three types can be found in the United States. Anopheles mosquitoes carry malaria as well as filariasis and encephalitis. Culex mosquitoes carry encephalitis, filariasis, and West Nile virus. Aedes mosquitoes carry yellow fever, dengue, and encephalitis. Chikungunya and Zika are other mosquito born diseases. Malaria parasites attach to the gut of the female mosquito and then enter their host while the female mosquito is feeding. With yellow fever and dengue, the virus enters the mosquito when she feeds on an infected person and is then transmitted through the saliva to the next victim.
Mosquitoes also convey disease to domestic animals.
Removing or treating standing water sources will reduce their breeding areas. Thousands of mosquitoes can hatch from a single water puddle that is stagnant for at least four days. Removing old tires, tin cans, bottles, and planters with no drainage hole reduces standing water. Wading pools should be emptied regularly. Change water in birdbaths and clean twice a week. Empty pet watering dishes daily. Clean clogged roof gutters and drain flat roofs. Standing water that can’t be drained can be treated with Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (BTi) to prevent mosquitoes. For stock watering troughs or backyard decorative ponds, add mosquito fish, minnows, goldfish, or Koi. Check the Texas rules through Texas Parks & Wildlife before stocking fish in your backyard pond. With a decorative pond, having a waterfall, spitter, fountain or aerator adds beauty and prevents breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Yellow “bug” lights reduce mosquitoes. Nesting barn swallows and other insect eating birds eliminate mosquitoes.
Window and door screens should be bug tight. Dusk and dawn are the most active mosquito times, so stay indoors when possible. When you want to be out during “mosquito hour,” wear protective clothing, use insect repellents with DEET, picaridin or oil of lemon eucalyptus. Be sure to read instructions before using the insect repellents.
To learn more about mosquitoes and the Zika Virus, Wizzie Brown will be speaking at the May Good Water Master Naturalist Chapter meeting on Thursday, May 25 at the AgriLife Extension meeting room, 3151 SE Inner Loop, Georgetown. Refreshments and a short business meeting begin at 6:00. Wizzie will begin her talk at 7:00 p.m.
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