Little-Known Facts About The Mosquito Anatomy And Its Significance

This buzzing insect has a way of stealing the sleep from your eyes. It will either keep you awake or you’ll subconsciously continue trying to whisk it away. What’s more, you’ll do everything possible to prevent it from biting you. Why? The itch and discomfort that comes with a mosquito bite are at another level altogether. All these things a mosquito does are only possible because of their anatomy. As deadly as they are, mosquitoes also have their own weaknesses.

For Flying

Ever wondered why mosquitoes fly so fast? Or thought about why they make the buzzing noise? Well, this post will attempt to answer some of your questions.

Many of the mosquito species only weigh about 2.5 milligrams and generally do not fly above 25 feet. This is the main reason why mosquitoes are considered as weak fliers in the flying pest category…

If you think mosquitoes travel a lot and far, then you’re wrong! Mosquitoes typically will not travel more than a mile from their breeding ground in search of food.

Thus, by quickly removing mosquito breeding grounds around your property, you can greatly reduce the number of mosquitoes population around you…Read more at Rentokil Co.

They may be weak fliers but with such a lightweight, you can tell why they always seem to escape your death slaps!

For Feeding

You may be curious about how mosquitoes get a blood meal from you. How do they easily creep up on you and leave a red bump on your skin? Why does the bite itch so much? The following post can explain this in detail:

Proboscis

The most visible organ in the mosquito mouth is the proboscis. This consists of multiple parts that can only be seen with a microscope. By looking at just the trunk of a mosquito, you might think that this is a single, rigid organ that punctures our skin like a needle, going directly to our blood vessels extracting our blood. But the proboscis is much more complex and contains other parts that female mosquitoes use to access our blood.

Labium
The labium is the part of the proboscis that covers other mouthparts like a sheath. But the labium is not used for puncturing the skin or sucking blood. In fact, it doesn’t even go into the skin. When a mosquito lands on the skin, it uses the labium to touch the surface of the skin so it can insert the other mouthparts into the skin…Read more at Insectcop

It sounds crazy to just think of the whole blood-sucking process. These mouthparts are critical for this function.

A Deeper Look

So this is the organ that we should all be aware of. Perhaps a microscopic look at it may interest you a bit more. Here are some details you may want to learn about:

Mosquitoes use their proboscis to feed on hosts. With a length of 2 mm and diameters of only 40-100 μm, the proboscis is composed of a fascicle surrounded by a retractable outer cover called the labium (Figure 1). The labium has hairs at its blunted tip that assists mosquitoes in finding ideal piercing locations on the host. Additionally, the blunted ends of the labium allow mosquitoes to support the fascicle and promote blood vessel piercing. The fascicle is comprised of several elements, or stylets. One of these stylets is the labrum, which is pointed, hollow and responsible for sucking host blood. Further studying of the mosquito labrum revealed that it is a viscoelastic material, meaning its properties change with different frequencies.  Read more at Impress Magazine

Clearly, the mosquito has everything going to extract your blood from you. There really is no hiding. These bugs are sure to win unless you take the extra steps to keep your home mosquito-free.

There’s no better way to get rid of mosquitoes than to work with the Backyard Bug Patrol. We have a barrier spray program that is sure to kill all mosquitoes and ticks on contact. Call us today for the most effective services in town.