Mosquitoes

Order/family: Diptera/Culicidae

Scientific Name: Several varieties including Culex spp, Aedes spp, Anopheles spp.

Description: Mosquitoes are members of the order Diptera, the family of flies. Mosquitoes are slender, long-legged, two-winged insects 1/8” to 1/4” long. Unlike other flies, their wings and bodies are covered with scales and they have long piercing/sucking mouthparts. The Anopheles mosquitoes have no scales on their abdomens as do both Aedes or Culex mosquitoes. They are easily recognized by their mouthparts, two palms and proboscis, which are equal in length, as well as by their habit of resting in a straight line at a 45-degree angle to the surface. The larvae are aquatic with well-developed heads, swollen and unsegmented thoraxes, and eight-segmented abdomens which usually end in an elongated breathing tube. Anopheles larvae have no elongated breathing tube as do the Aedes or Culex mosquitoes, and they orient themselves parallel to the surface of the water when resting or breathing. The pupae, or tumblers, are also aquatic and active. Their heads and thoraxes are encompassed in a large, oval mass with the slender abdomen attached.