Natural history of mosquitoes

Few insects are more immediately recognized than the mosquitoes, yet their natural history and the depths of their interactions with other organisms remain largely unknown beyond those who study them or work to control their impacts. Because of their small size, it’s difficult to observe mosquitoes in nature, outside of the moments when a mosquito attempts to use a human as a host. Even then, it’s difficult to clearly see a mosquito and visualize its morphology. The goal of this presentation is to re-introduce mosquitoes, and to summarize their fascinating natural history and profound interactions with other organisms. Globally, more than 3,700 mosquito species have been described. There is tremendous variation among mosquito species, and each species is distinct. They vary in their morphologies, their larval microhabitats, their life histories and strategies, the pathogens, if any, that they vector, and they vary in their host associations. All mosquitoes depend on plant-derived sugars from which they fuel their day to day lives, and leading to interactions with plants. Mosquitoes are so well known to humans, and so impactful, because the females of most species must take a blood meal from another animal in order to complete the development of their eggs. Because of this, and because a female mosquito may feed from multiple hosts over the course of its life, mosquitoes can be effective vectors for disease causing pathogens.