Pupa

As seen in its lateral aspect, the mosquito pupa is comma-shaped. The head and thorax are merged
into a cephalothorax, with the abdomen curving around underneath. The pupa can swim actively by
flipping its abdomen, and it is commonly called a "tumbler" because of its swimming action. As with
the larva, the pupa of most species must come to the surface frequently to breathe, which they do
through a pair of respiratory trumpets on their cephalothoraxes. They do not feed during this stage;
typically they pass their time hanging from the surface of the water by their respiratory trumpets. If
alarmed, say by a passing shadow, they nimbly swim downwards by flipping their abdomens in
much the same way as the larvae do. If undisturbed, they soon float up again.
After a few days or longer, depending on the temperature and other circumstances,
the dorsal surface of its cephalothorax splits, and the adult mosquito emerges. The pupa is less
active than the larva because it does not feed, whereas the larva feeds constantly. [29]

Adult

Anatomy of an adult mosquito

The period of development from egg to adult varies among species and is strongly influenced by
ambient temperature. Some species of mosquitoes can develop from egg to adult in as few as five
days, but a more typical period of development in tropical conditions would be some 40 days or
more for most species. The variation of the body size in adult mosquitoes depends on the density of
the larval population and food supply within the breeding water.
Adult mosquitoes usually mate within a few days after emerging from the pupal stage. In most
species, the males form large swarms, usually around dusk, and the females fly into the swarms to
mate.
Males typically live for about 5–7 days, feeding on nectar and other sources of sugar. After obtaining
a full blood meal, the female will rest for a few days while the blood is digested and eggs are
developed. This process depends on the temperature, but usually takes two to three days in tropical
conditions. Once the eggs are fully developed, the female lays them and resumes host-seeking.
The cycle repeats itself until the female dies. While females can live longer than a month in captivity,
most do not live longer than one to two weeks in nature. Their lifespans depend on temperature,
humidity, and their ability to successfully obtain a blood meal while avoiding host defenses and
predators.
The length of the adult is typically between 3 mm and 6 mm. The smallest known mosquitoes are
around 2 mm (0.1 in), and the largest around 19 mm (0.7 in).[33] Mosquitoes typically weigh around
5 mg. All mosquitoes have slender bodies with three segments: a head, a thorax and an abdomen.
The head is specialized for receiving sensory information and for feeding. It has eyes and a pair of
long, many-segmented antennae. The antennae are important for detecting host odors, as well as
odors of breeding sites where females lay eggs. In all mosquito species, the antennae of the males
in comparison to the females are noticeably bushier and contain auditory receptors to detect the
characteristic whine of the females.

Adult yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti, typical of

subfamily Culicinae. Note bushy antennae and longer palps of male on left vs. females at right.
The compound eyes are distinctly separated from one another. Their larvae only possess a pit-eye
ocellus. The compound eyes of adults develop in a separate region of the head.
[34]
 New ommatidia are added in semicircular rows at the rear of the eye. During the first phase of
growth, this leads to individual ommatidia being square, but later in development they become
hexagonal. The hexagonal pattern will only become visible when the carapace of the stage with
square eyes is molted.[34]
The head also has an elongated, forward-projecting, stinger-like proboscis used for feeding, and two
sensory palps. The maxillary palps of the males are longer than their proboscises, whereas the
females' maxillary palps are much shorter. In typical bloodsucking species, the female has an
elongated proboscis.
The thorax is specialized for locomotion. Three pairs of legs and a pair of wings are attached to the
thorax. The insect wing is an outgrowth of the exoskeleton. The Anopheles mosquito can fly for up to
four hours continuously at 1 to 2 km/h (0.6–1 mph),[35] traveling up to 12 km (7.5 mi) in a night. Males
beat their wings between 450 and 600 times per second. [36]
The abdomen is specialized for food digestion and egg development; the abdomen of a mosquito
can hold three times its own weight in blood.[37] This segment expands considerably when a female
takes a blood meal. The blood is digested over time, serving as a source of protein for the
production of eggs, which gradually fill the abdomen.

Feeding by adults

Aedes aegypti, a common vector of dengue fever and yellow

fever
Typically, both male and female mosquitoes feed on nectar, aphid honeydew, and plant juices,[38] but
in many species the mouthparts of the females are adapted for piercing the skin of animal hosts
and sucking their blood as ectoparasites. In many species, the female needs to obtain nutrients from
a blood meal before it can produce eggs, whereas in many other species, obtaining nutrients from a
blood meal enables the mosquito to lay more eggs. A mosquito has a variety of ways of finding
nectar or its prey, including chemical, visual, and heat sensors.[39][40] Both plant materials and blood
are useful sources of energy in the form of sugars, and blood also supplies more concentrated
nutrients, such as lipids, but the most important function of blood meals is to obtain proteins as
materials for egg production.[41][42]
When a female reproduces without such parasitic meals, it is said to practice autogenous
reproduction, as in Toxorhynchites; otherwise, the reproduction may be termed anautogenous, as
occurs in mosquito species that serve as disease vectors, particularly Anopheles and some of the
most important disease vectors in the genus Aedes. In contrast, some mosquitoes, for example,
many Culex, are partially anautogenous: they do not need a blood meal for their first cycle of egg
production, which they produce autogenously; subsequent clutches of eggs are produced
anautogenously, at which point their disease vectoring activity becomes operative. [43]
Among humans, the feeding preferences of mosquitoes typically include: those with type O blood,
heavy breathers, an abundance of skin bacteria, high body heat, and pregnant women. [44]
[45]
 Individuals' attractiveness to mosquitoes also has a heritable, genetically-controlled component.[46]
Female mosquitoes hunt their blood host by detecting organic substances such as carbon
dioxide (CO2) and 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom alcohol, found in exhaled breath) produced from the host,
and through visual recognition. Mosquitoes prefer some people over others. The preferred victim's
sweat smells more attractive than others' because of the proportions of the carbon dioxide, octenol,
and other compounds that make up body odor.[47] The most powerful semiochemical that triggers the
keen sense of smell of Culex quinquefasciatus is nonanal.[48] Another compound identified in human
blood that attracts mosquitoes is sulcatone or 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one, especially for Aedes
aegypti mosquitoes with the odor receptor gene Or4.[49] A compound called carboxylic acids in
human body odor is also found to attract mosquitoes. [50] A large part of the mosquito's sense of smell,
or olfactory system, is devoted to sniffing out blood sources. Of 72 types of odor receptors on its
antennae, at least 27 are tuned to detect chemicals found in perspiration. [51] In Aedes, the search for
a host takes place in two phases. First, the mosquito exhibits a nonspecific searching behavior until
the perception of a host's stimulants, then it follows a targeted approach. [52]
Most mosquito species are crepuscular (dawn or dusk) feeders. During the heat of the day, most
mosquitoes rest in a cool place and wait for the evenings, although they may still bite if disturbed.
[53]
 Some species, such as the Asian tiger mosquito, are known to fly and feed during daytime.[54]
Prior to and during blood feeding, blood-sucking mosquitoes inject saliva into the bodies of their
source(s) of blood. This saliva serves as an anticoagulant; without it the female mosquito's proboscis
might become clogged with blood clots. The saliva also is the main route by which
mosquito physiology offers passenger pathogens access to the hosts' bloodstream. The salivary
glands are a major target to most pathogens, whence they find their way into the host via the saliva.
A mosquito bite often leaves an itchy weal, a raised bump, on the victim's skin, which is caused
by histamines trying to fight off the protein left by the attacking insect. [55]
Mosquitoes of the genus Toxorhynchites never drink blood.[56] This genus includes the largest extant
mosquitoes, the larvae of which prey on the larvae of other mosquitoes. These mosquito eaters have
been used in the past as mosquito control agents, with varying success. [57]

Host animals
0:41Video of Anopheline mosquito locating and feeding on a caterpillar

Mosquitoes feeding on a snake

Many, if not all, blood-sucking species of mosquitoes are fairly selective feeders that specialise in
particular host species, though they often relax their selectivity when they experience severe
competition for food, defensive activity on the part of the hosts, or starvation. Some species feed
selectively on monkeys, while others prefer particular kinds of birds, but they become less selective
as conditions become more difficult. For example, Culiseta melanura sucks the blood
of passerine birds for preference, and such birds are typically the main reservoir of the Eastern
equine encephalitis virus in North America. Early in the season while mosquito numbers are low,
they concentrate on passerine hosts, but as mosquito numbers rise and the birds are forced to
defend themselves more vigorously, the mosquitoes become less selective of hosts. Soon the
mosquitoes begin attacking mammals more readily, thereby becoming the major vector of the virus,
and causing epidemics of the disease, most conspicuously in humans and horses. [58] Multiple
mosquitoes' withdrawal of blood from a host can add up to a large volume. [59] In rare cases, heavy
mosquito densities have directly killed livestock as large as cattle and horses.[59]
Even more dramatically, in most of its range in North America, the main vector for the Western
equine encephalitis virus is Culex tarsalis, because it is known to feed variously on mammals, birds,
reptiles, and amphibians. Even fish may be attacked by some mosquito species if they expose
themselves above water level, as mudskippers do.[58][60]
In 1969 it was reported that some species of anautogenous mosquitoes would feed on the
haemolymph of caterpillars[61] although its nutritional value is questionable. [38] Other observations
include mosquitoes feeding on cicadas[62] and mantids.[63] In 2014, it was shown that malaria-
transmitting mosquitoes actively seek out some species of caterpillars and feed on their
haemolymph,[64] and do so to the caterpillar's apparent physical detriment. [65]

Mouthparts
Mosquito mouthparts are very specialized, particularly those of the females, which in most species
are adapted to piercing skin and then sucking blood. Apart from bloodsucking, the females generally
also drink assorted fluids rich in dissolved sugar, such as nectar and honeydew, to obtain the energy
they need. For this, their blood-sucking mouthparts are perfectly adequate. In contrast, male
mosquitoes are not bloodsuckers; they only drink sugary fluids. Accordingly, their mouthparts do not
require the same degree of specialization as those of females. [66]
Externally, the most obvious feeding structure of the mosquito is the proboscis. More specifically, the
visible part of the proboscis is the labium, which forms the sheath enclosing the rest of the
mouthparts. When the mosquito first lands on a potential host, its mouthparts are enclosed entirely
in this sheath, and it will touch the tip of the labium to the skin in various places. Sometimes, it will
begin to bite almost straight away, while other times, it will prod around, apparently looking for a
suitable place. Occasionally, it will wander for a considerable time, and eventually fly away without
biting. Presumably, this probing is a search for a place with easily accessible blood vessels, but the
exact mechanism is not known. It is known that there are two taste receptors at the tip of the labium
which may well play a role.[67]
The female mosquito does not insert its labium into the skin; it bends back into a bow when the
mosquito begins to bite. The tip of the labium remains in contact with the skin of the host, acting as a
guide for the other mouthparts. In total, there are six mouthparts besides the labium: two mandibles,
two maxillae, the hypopharynx, and the labrum.
The mandibles and the maxillae are used for piercing the skin. The mandibles are pointed, while the
maxillae end in flat, toothed "blades". To force these into the skin, the mosquito moves its head
backwards and forwards. On one movement, the maxillae are moved as far forward as possible. On
the opposite movement, the mandibles are pushed deeper into the skin by levering against the
maxillae. The maxillae do not slip back because the toothed blades grip the skin.
The hypopharynx and the labrum are both hollow. Saliva with anticoagulant is pumped down the
hypopharynx to prevent clotting, and blood is drawn up the labrum.
To understand the mosquito mouthparts, it is helpful to draw a comparison with an insect that chews
food, such as a dragonfly. A dragonfly has two mandibles, which are used for chewing, and two
maxillae, which are used to hold the food in place as it is chewed. The labium forms the floor of the
dragonfly's mouth, the labrum forms the top, while the hypopharynx is inside the mouth and is used
in swallowing. Conceptually, then, the mosquito's proboscis is an adaptation of the mouthparts that
occur in other insects. The labium still lies beneath the other mouthparts, but also enfolds them, and
it has been extended into a proboscis. The maxillae still "grip" the "food" while the mandibles "bite" it.
The top of the mouth, the labrum, has developed into a channeled blade the length of the proboscis,
with a cross-section like an inverted "U". Finally, the hypopharynx has extended into a tube that can
deliver saliva at the end of the proboscis. Its upper surface is somewhat flattened so, when the lower
part of the hypopharynx is pressed against it, the labrum forms a closed tube for conveying blood
from the host.[68]
CREDITS TO https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito