Ashish Das explains: Male mosquitoes have a relatively shorter life span. They survive by slurping nectar. Soon after leaving the pupa stage, the adults mate, after which they die.

The female mosquitoes have to feed on blood in order to lay eggs. The blood sucked is reserved for production of eggs.

Prof. Amiya Kumar Hati, former head of the department of entomology, School of Tropical Medicine, says, “Most mosquitoes are host-specific. Some females feed only on human blood, while others may feed on the blood of birds, mammals and reptiles, and many species will feed on any available host. Female mosquitoes are vectors of many diseases. Virus is transmitted via the bite of various day-feeding mosquitoes of the subgenus Stegomyia. The principle vector is Aedes aegypti. Female mosquitoes can also transmit the virus transovarially, passing it down to the next generation.” The Anopheles mosquito exclusively causes human malaria.

Egg development is initiated within minutes of a blood meal. It releases a hormone that triggers off the development of the oocytes (eggs before maturation) to the next stage. Transfusion of haemolymph is necessary for the oocytes to reach maturity. Female mosquitoes have a sharp tubular proboscis adapted for piercing and sucking out fluids-usually blood.

The question was sent by

Debalrishi Banerjee from Bally