How mosquitoes breed: features characteristic of flying bloodsuckers

The process of procreation is an important part of the life of any living creature, and insects are no exception. How do mosquitoes breed? Probably, few people thought about this issue, and its subtleties are known only to biology enthusiasts. Although this is quite an interesting process from the point of view of knowledge about the living world, it has its own characteristics and interesting facts.

A brief introduction to the insect

Mosquitoes (other “official” names - real or blood-sucking mosquitoes) - from the point of view of biological classification, represent the Culicidae family, which is defined as the Long-nosed group and the Diptera insect group, which are characterized by sexual reproduction and complete transformation (metamorphoses from an egg to an adult: o they will be described in detail below).

Adult female mosquitoes drink human blood and are part of the mean, a combination of blood-sucking insects, for which they deserve a strong dislike of people
Mosquitoes are small flying insects. The length of their thin and soft torso different types ranges from 4 mm to 15 mm. All representatives of the Culicidae family are characterized by the presence of long legs, which end with 2 claws for better adhesion to surfaces and stability, and narrow transparent wings, consisting of many Czechs. Their range is from 5 mm in the smallest species to 30 mm.

In tropical regions, real giants are found: for example, mosquito-centipedes, or karamors, in favorable conditions grow up to 10 cm in length, which is a record indicator.

Most species of the Mosquito family have a nondescript color: gray, brown, yellow. Much less often (and mainly in southern countries) there are specimens of black or green. The thoracic section of insects is wider than the abdomen. The long antennas needed to orient the insect in space are formed by 15 segments.

The mouth apparatus of a mosquito is a piercing-sucking look. It is hidden in the lower lip of the insect, which has the shape of a tube. Inside it are sharp stilettos of the jaws, similar to blades. They are needed to cut a microscopic hole on the skin, through which then the sucking proboscis penetrates to the capillary layer. Moreover, in females it consists of stitching bristles, which are absent in males.

By the word "mosquito" people most often mean a mosquito-squeak. It is he who annoys a person with his obsessive buzz and painful bites.

In total, the Mosquito family has 3,000 species, divided into 38 genera. Most of them live in southern countries with a tropical climate. Only 100 species representing 3 genera are settled on the territory of Russia: real mosquitoes, biting mosquitoes and malaria.

Mosquito breeding process

These are bisexual creatures, therefore, male and female participate in the reproduction of mosquitoes. Future offspring goes through 4 stages of development, which are characteristic of insects with complete transformation:

• egg;
• larva;
• pupa;
• adults (sexually mature individual).

Moreover, insects are “land” creatures only in the very last stage of mosquito development: all the rest live in water bodies or in the immediate vicinity of them. Indeed, for development they need water.

The reproductive system of mosquitoes

Representatives of the family have internal fertilization: the seed of the male after mating enters the genital tract of the female, after which the formation of eggs begins. The genitals of mosquitoes are inside their abdomen: the ovaries in the female and the testes in the male. Microscopic external genitalia of the male have a very complex structure, the features of which are the key point for distinguishing species that look similar to each other. Females have a small ovipositor in the form of a short tube: through it, eggs are born.

"Mating Games"

The type of mating of mosquitoes in the language of biology is called "eurygamy." Its peculiarity lies in the formation of a swarm - a dense cloud of male insects that stay close to each other. Surely, everyone saw such flocks on summer evenings.

Female mosquitoes attract the attention of the opposite sex with a subtle buzzing like a squeak. This sound is created by the movement of the wings. Its frequency depends on the age of the individual, and males with the help of their sensitive antennae catch the slightest differences in sound, giving preference to more mature "girlfriends".
When approaching a cloud of males, the female flies into it and is fertilized by those who managed to do this first. To complete the matter, the males have special appendages next to the genitals, with the help of which he keeps the female in joint flight.

It is noteworthy that mosquito populations living in cities are characterized by stenogamy - reproduction without swarming, the implementation of which is difficult due to the lack of large and free space.

After a short pairing, the male flies away from the female and returns to the rest. The female goes in search of the blood necessary for the continuation of the offspring.

Eggs

Females each time make large clutches containing 30–150 mosquito eggs. The most prolific malaria species, producing about 280 pieces. The exact number is directly proportional to the amount of blood drunk by the female, which explains the aggression of insects in relation to humans.

Usually, the female makes a laying directly on the surface of the water. To do this, she chooses freshwater, calm and stagnant water bodies with a minimum flow rate. Ponds and quiet backwaters of lakes overgrown with reeds are ideal. Less commonly, mosquitoes masonry on well-moistened soil along the banks or near temporary ponds that dry in the summer and re-fill in the spring after snow melts. Sometimes the female chooses floating objects and plants (this is more typical for the genus of Real mosquitoes, to which the famous Squeak mosquito is ranked).

Larva

Under favorable conditions, only a few days later, larvae fall into the water from the lower end of the eggs. They look like small worms covered with hairs. The body color of a mosquito larva depends on the species. For example, in a Piskun, they are dirty gray, and in a Pyskun, they are green or red. The latter are used in fishing and aquarium, where they are known as “bloodworms”.

The larva and pupa, which subsequently emerges from it, necessarily require sufficient air. Larvae of some species live at the very bottom of reservoirs, buried in silt or mud, but every 15 minutes they must float to the surface to receive oxygen. Others can swim for a long time, bending with their whole body, on the surface upwards with the “tail of the body”, because it is there that the respiratory organs of the worm are located - special tubes through which it breathes.

Over the entire period of its development, which lasts an average of 20 days, the larva is waiting for 4 molt, after which it will turn into a chrysalis. During them, she discards her old exoskeleton, which allows each time to increase more and more in size. For example, immediately after emergence from an egg, the length of the larva does not exceed 1 mm, and after the last molt it can reach 1 cm. Moreover, the body volume of the larva increases even more: almost 500 times.

Doll

A mosquito pupa, the penultimate stage of development of an insect, has a more complex structure of internal organs. She also lives in the water and periodically floats to the surface, preparing to turn into a flying individual. The waiting time takes about 5 days. Gradually, it becomes dark in color.

The answer to the question whether the mosquito has a chrysalis is positive, since it is an insect with a complete transformation cycle.

The behavior and nutrition of the larvae and pupae is almost identical, but the latter has one interesting feature: due to the shape and well-developed tail, they can rapidly move in the water column with spasmodic movements.

Imago

The imago is an adult insect that lives on land and participates in reproduction. Males live only 3 weeks, while females live 3 months if the air temperature is around 10–15 ° C. Under adverse conditions, life expectancy is reduced.

Interesting Facts

Reproduction is impossible without saturation of females with human blood. Therefore, mosquitoes are settled in almost all land areas where people live. They stay close to the settlements in order to be able to drink the blood of people at any time.

Each type has its own preferences in temperature and lighting mode. Some like shady ponds, others like well-lit ones. Biologists have calculated that the larvae can develop when the water temperature is 10–35 ° C, but from 25 ° C to 30 ° C is considered the most comfortable.

Mosquitoes rarely lay their eggs in large ponds, which are inhabited by many fish, because they willingly feed on clutches.

The larva will die if the water is contaminated with oil products: they form a film on the surface through which the worms cannot breathe. But some species show an enviable adaptation, having adapted to use oxygen dissolved in water for breathing.

The process of how mosquitoes appear is sufficiently studied by science. These insects are characterized by high fertility and nutrition by human blood. Both of these features are directly dependent on each other.