Mosquitoes

The mosquitos are insects which make up the family Culicidae. They have a pair of scaled wings, a pair of halteres, a slender body, and long legs. more...

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The females of most mosquito species suck blood (hematophagy) from other animals, which has made them the most deadly disease vectors known to man, killing millions of people over thousands of years and continuing to kill millions per year by the spread of diseases.

Length varies but is rarely greater than 16 mm (0.6 inch), and weight up to 2.5 mg (0.04 grain). A mosquito can fly for 1 to 4 hours continuously at up to 1–2 km/h travelling up to 10 km in a night. Most species are nocturnal or crepuscular (dawn or evening) feeders. During the heat of the day most mosquitos rest in a cool place and wait for the evenings. They may still bite if disturbed.

Evolution

Mosquitoes are believed to have evolved around 170 million years ago whilst the first ever known during the Jurassic era (199–144 million years ago) with the earliest known fossils from the Cretaceous era (144–65 million years ago). They are thought to have evolved in South America, spreading initially to the northern continent Laurasia and re-entering the tropics from the north. Some ancestral mosquitos were about three times the size of the extant species.

The family Culicidae, a sister group to the Chaoboridae (biting midges), belongs to the order Diptera and contains about 3,500 species in three subfamilies: Anophelinae (3 genera), the Culicinae (at least 37 genera and >80% of all the species) and the Toxorhynchitinae (1 genus). The genera include Anopheles, Culex, Psorophora, Ochlerotatus, Aedes, Sabethes, Wyeomyia, Culiseta, and Haemagoggus. Within the subfamily Anophelinae six subgenera are recognized: Stethomyia, Lophopodomyia, Kerteszia, Nyssorhynchus (all South American), Cellia (Old World only), and Anopheles (worldwide).

Food habits

Both male and female mosquitos are nectar feeders, but the female is also capable of haematophagy (drinking blood). Females do not require blood for survival, but they do need supplemental substances (like protein and iron) for the development and laying of their eggs. Prior to sucking the blood, they inject a mild painkiller, which numbs the host to the pain from the "bite" (Note: mosquitos do not actually bite). The Toxorhynchites species of mosquito never drinks blood. This genus includes the largest of the extant mosquitos, the larvae of which are predatory on the larvae of other mosquitos. These mosquito eaters have been used in the past as mosquito control agents, with varying success .

Read more at Wikipedia.org