Summer is a season where everything seems a buzz with energy, especially if you find yourself in the midst of mosquito territory. There has been a giant push by many people to save the bees and protect the pollinators. Two things I am very much in favour of; who doesn’t want to be surrounded by wildflowers and enjoy fruits and veggies that are so dependent on the services of pollinators? However, if you ask those same people how they feel about the average mosquito, most of them would not even think twice about swatting it. Despite the fact that as a human I fall onto the menu of these little insects, I still maintain that they are fascinating and deserve more credit for their important role in our ecosystem.
For the majority of its short life mosquitos do not even drink blood, and male mosquitoes never do. Their diets are dependent on their ability to find plant nectar, sap, and other plant fluids. When the mosquito lands on the flower to find its food, they come away with not only a dinner for themselves but also with a large amount of pollen covering the tiny hairs on its body. When they go to the next flower, they carry this pollen with them helping the plants reproduce. Male mosquitos can be identified by the feathery antennae as seen in the photo, and females have skinny antennae. The females do eventually need to have a blood meal to lay eggs, and surprisingly few mosquito species specialize in taking human blood.
Once this blood meal is obtained the female can head on over to a still body of water, whether a pond, puddle or picnic plate that has gathered rain. Here she lays a raft of eggs. These eggs hatch into mosquito larvae. These larvae are filter feeders and do their part in helping to reduce the amount of algae in the water. The larvae themselves still have to breath oxygen and do so by sticking a tube-like structure on their tail called a siphon out of the water. When frightened they can wiggle away from the surface and hopefully find safety in the depths below. After about ten days they transform into pupa. For most insects, this is a still time, but not the mosquito. These comma-like pupae are capable of tumbling away from danger they detect on the surface. Given the amount of aquatic wildlife like frogs and dragonfly larvae whose favourite dish is mosquito babies, this can happen quite frequently.
I will not gloss over that five percent of mosquito species are responsible for more human deaths than any other species on the planet. I will state that the other 95% of mosquitos are doing their part to keep fruits and veggies on our plates, ponds filtered, wildflowers blooming, bats plump and birds happy with no harm to us whatsoever. I would encourage you to think about that before you swat the next pregnant mosquito who comes looking to provide for her children with your blood donation.
Laura Griffin
