Why The Bite of a Mosquito Itches?

We have heard the expression “The female of the species is deadlier than the male”. It actually applies to the mosquitoes. It is the female mosquito that only sucks blood. The bill of the female has some sharp piercing organs that are arranged around a sucking tube. When the mosquito bites it injects a poisonous liquid into the blood. This poison causes the pain and itching and swelling is also produced.

After the bite, the mosquito hums and this sound is probably most annoying. The hum is most important to the mosquito how-ever, for it is a sort of making call. The males make a deep, low hum by vibrating their wings rapidly, white the females have a shriller note.

Mosquitoes are found all over the world. But wherever they may live, all species begin their lives somewhere in the water. The females deposit their eggs on the surface of ponds, in pools, in rain barrels, in the oases of deserts, even in tin cans. Each female lays from 40 to 400 eggs, and may be laid singly or in compact raftlike masses.

In about a week’s time small footless larvae hatch out. These larvae wriggle through the water so actively that they are called “Wrigglers”. They cannot breathe under water, and spend time on the surface. They take in air through the breathing tubes on their tails, and weave bits of animal and plant matter into their mouths with the feathery brushes on their heads.

The wrigglers grow, molt, or shed the skins. The fourth time they molt, they change into pupae. The pupae spend most of the time near surface breathing though hornlike tubes on their backs. The pupae do not eat, but their skins splits in couple of days and grown mosquitoes crawl out.

Adult mosquitoes live for a few weeks. In some species, there are 12 generations of mosquitoes in a year.