Mosquito Biology
Mosquito Biology
Buzzzzz! It’s the sound of a summer evening predator looking for your blood! Our distaste for mosquitoes is ancient. Most of that distaste is the simple swollen itchy annoyance they leave for the bite they take. But occasionally, mosquitoes will leave more than an itch.
Mosquitoes are capable of vectoring diseases such as Zika, Malaria, and West Nile Virus. While these diseases have no impact on the mosquito, they do impact humans and other animals. A female mosquito will mate and then find a blood meal to lay viable eggs. If she only had to bite once, then mosquitoes would never be more than a nuisance to humans, but most female mosquitoes are capable of laying several broods, and each time will require a blood meal.
In Idaho, the typical transmission of West Nile Virus occurs when a mosquito bites an infected bird, amplifies the disease in itself, and then bites a human or other mammal. How do we break this cycle? One of the best ways is to avoid the bite in the first place. The Twin Falls County Pest Abatement District works hard to identify and treat mosquito habitats so that mosquitoes never have the opportunity to hatch out.
A mosquito’s lifecycle starting as an egg begins in the water. The egg hatches and a first instar larva or wiggler emerges. As the larva grows, it goes through four instar stages and then becomes a pupa or tumbler. In the pupa stage, this pest is transforming from a harmless aquatic insect into a land and air pest. From the pupa stage, the mosquito will hatch out of it’s cocoon as an adult. Adult male mosquitoes feed on nectars and mate with females, but they don’t bite. As previously mentioned, female mosquitoes mate and then search out a blood meal to lay viable eggs- and the lifecycle begins again!
In order to prohibit a habitat from hatching out hungry mosquitoes, the District looks at options to drain standing water. When this isn’t possible, technicians will survey the site and then treat the habitat with a soil bacteria that kills mosquito larva via ingestion. This soil bacteria is specific to the Diptera Order (flies such as mosquitoes and black flies) and is nontoxic to fish, mammals, and other aquatic insects. By breaking the cycle of larvae and pupae development, adult mosquito populations are greatly reduced!