Virginia Mosquitoes

Life Cycle

• Egg

  • Adult, female mosquitoes lay their eggs on the inner, wet walls of containers with water.

  • Mosquitoes generally lay 100 eggs at a time.

  • Eggs are very hardy; they stick to the walls of a container like glue and can survive drying out for up to 8 months.

  • It only takes a very small amount of water to attract a female mosquito. Bowls, cups, fountains, tires, barrels, vases and any other container storing water.

• Larva

  • Larvae emerge from mosquito eggs, but only after the water level rises to cover the eggs. This means that rainwater or humans adding water to containers with eggs will trigger the larvae to emerge.

  • Larvae feed on microorganisms in the water. After molting three times, the larva becomes a pupa.

• Pupa

  • Pupae will develop until the body of the newly formed adult flying mosquito emerges from the pupal skin and leaves the water.

• Adult

  • After adult mosquitoes emerge: male mosquitoes feed on nectar from flowers and female mosquitoes feed on humans and animals for blood to produce eggs.

  • After feeding, female mosquitoes will look for water sources to lay more eggs.

  • Aedes aegypti only flies a few blocks during its life.

  • Unlike other mosquito species, Aedes aegypti mosquitoes prefer to bite people.

  • Aedes aegypti mosquitoes prefer to live near people.

Mosquito Taxonomy

• Kingdom: Animalia

• Subkingdom: Bilateria (bilateral symmetry)

• Phylum: Arthropoda (exoskeleton, segmented body)

• Subphylum: Hexapoda (six legs, 3 body segments)

• Class: Insecta

• Subclass: Pterygota (winged insects)

• Order: Diptera (two wings)

• Family: Culicidae (long legs, hairy, sucker, etc)

• Genus: Aedes

• Species: albopictus

General Traits

• Measures approx. 1/4 -1/2 inch in length

• Has wings longer than its body

• Ranges in color depending on species; many are brown

• Breed in stagnant water

Mosquitoes vs. Midges

• The adult midge is slender, usually less than 5mm long with long slender wings and legs.

• They lay their eggs on water and are usually found in quiet waters, with a preference to polluted waters that contain excessive algae growth, as this is their food source.

• They differ from the midge in that they have scaled wings and in the females; elongated mouthparts that enable them to bite.

• The mosquito lays its eggs in any standing water and the "wrigglers", as they are called because of their swimming motion, feed on algae and other organic matter.

Mosquitoes vs. Dixid Midges

• Dixid Midges are common around moist areas where vegetation is abundant and may be seen swarming at dusk along the edges of streams and lakes. The adults are short lived, usually being active less than a week.

• The larvae are found in slow moving water, at the surface, and swim in a characteristic "U" shape.

• These midges lack a proboscis and scales on the wings. Periodically, dixids can produce staggeringly large emergences, but only in local and certain ecological situations.

Mosquitoes vs. Crane Flies

• Adults are very slender, long-legged fliers that may vary in length, from ¼ inch to as large as 1½ inches in length.

• Smaller species are mosquito-sized, but they can be distinguished from mosquitoes by the V-shaped suture on the thorax, non-piercing mouthparts, and a lack of scales on the wing veins.

• Some larval (immature) crane flies may on occasion feed on mosquito larvae but they do not feed on adult mosquitoes.