Adult female mosquitos spend much of their time looking for a meal of blood.while the males eat flower nectar.Their young however are water dwellers,hatching from eggs laid in ponds and puddles.
The larvae hang head downward from the surface of water,breathing air through tubes near the tip of their abdomen.
A developing mosquito eats nothing during its brief pupal stage,as it prepares to emerge as an adult.but during its earlier larval stage it "filter feeds"
When the larva draws water into its mouth constantly moving cilia-brush like hair,filter out microscopic food stuff.
Mosquito larvae eat algae,moulds,bacteria,pollen small dead water fleas,and planktons.
A few species also eat other mosquito larvae.
In some mosquito species,larvae eat the larvae of other mosquito species and other aquatic insects.
But these mosquitos do not sting, their larvae store enough food energy to lay eggs as adults without ever eating again.
Mosquito life from egg to adult:
Eggs of the house mosquito are laid on the water's surface in a raft.
The eggs hatch the following day and the larvae begin the first of four larval stages.in which they will moult three times.
The larval period lasts about 10 days in water temperatures of 25 `Celsius or warmer.At the end of the fourth larval stage,the shell cracks open and the pupa emerges.
The pupa continues to live in water .The pula eats nothing while the mouth changes from filter-feeding structure of the latva to the sucking structure of the adult.
After three or four days ,the adult emerges and flies away.
Large antenna and compound eyes nearly fill the mosquito larva's head.with its fuzzy cilia the larva draws water into its mouth and strains out the edible matter.The cilia
flutter between 180 and 240 times per minute,depending on the temperature.
The larvae hang head downward from the surface of water,breathing air through tubes near the tip of their abdomen.
A developing mosquito eats nothing during its brief pupal stage,as it prepares to emerge as an adult.but during its earlier larval stage it "filter feeds"
When the larva draws water into its mouth constantly moving cilia-brush like hair,filter out microscopic food stuff.
Mosquito larvae eat algae,moulds,bacteria,pollen small dead water fleas,and planktons.
A few species also eat other mosquito larvae.
In some mosquito species,larvae eat the larvae of other mosquito species and other aquatic insects.
But these mosquitos do not sting, their larvae store enough food energy to lay eggs as adults without ever eating again.
Mosquito life from egg to adult:
Eggs of the house mosquito are laid on the water's surface in a raft.
The eggs hatch the following day and the larvae begin the first of four larval stages.in which they will moult three times.
The larval period lasts about 10 days in water temperatures of 25 `Celsius or warmer.At the end of the fourth larval stage,the shell cracks open and the pupa emerges.
The pupa continues to live in water .The pula eats nothing while the mouth changes from filter-feeding structure of the latva to the sucking structure of the adult.
After three or four days ,the adult emerges and flies away.
Large antenna and compound eyes nearly fill the mosquito larva's head.with its fuzzy cilia the larva draws water into its mouth and strains out the edible matter.The cilia
flutter between 180 and 240 times per minute,depending on the temperature.
