Mosquito 101
There are over 3,500 species of mosquitos.
Male mosquitoes do not bite, but feed on nectar of flowers.
Only female mosquitoes feed on blood.
The female mosquito needs a meal of blood to help her eggs to develop.
A female mosquito can lay up to 300 eggs at a time, usually deposited on the surface of stagnant water.
Mosquito eggs need water to hatch.
The tiny embryo wrigglers live in water for about 10 days before pupating into mosquitoes.
Adult mosquitoes live for up to two months.
Mosquito is Spanish word meaning "little fly".
Diseases carried by mosquitoes include West Nile virus, malaria and encephalitis.
Mosquitoes are attracted carbon dioxide, body heat and sweat, and dark clothing.
Aedes mosquitoes are painful and persistent biters, attacking during daylight hours.
Aedes mosquitoes are strong fliers and are known to fly many miles from their breeding sources.
Culex mosquitoes are painful and persistent biters also, but prefer to attack at dusk and after dark, and readily enter dwellings.
Culex tarsalis is known to transmit encephalitis (sleeping sickness) to man and horses.
Culex are generally weak fliers and do not move far from home, although they have been known to fly up to two miles.
Culex usually live only a few weeks during the warm summer months.
Culiseta mosquitoes are moderately aggressive biters, attacking in the evening hours or in shade during the day.
