The mosquitoes are one of the most deadly creatures on earth. They can carry with them malaria, dengue fever and West Nile virus which has appeared here in Canada. Mosquitoes take over one million lives a year, spreading disease like wildfire. The world health organization considered mosquitoes one of the greatest threats to humanity that could exist. And as the planet temperature warms and climate change takes hold there will be ever more sites for mosquitoes to breed. If this is not stopped the next pandemic could cause an extinction-level event. The risk associated with mosquitoes is the cause of much debate, speculation and research as the cause and function of the insect are dissected. The question perpetually stands: how can we stop them from biting people. While they do not actually bite they do implant a hypodermic mouthpart that injects anticoagulants and a numbing agent into our skin while it drains our blood, mixing it with other blood they recently drained, say from a raccoon or a rat. This is incredibly dangerous, the mixing of blood can be deadly in many cases and the mosquitoes are an air-born threat to all of humanity.
While in the days before strong pesticides and electricity the tiki torch along with the citronella candle was the most effective way of keeping the mosquitoes away. Not we have all kinds of options from weaponized microdroplet insecticide plaster packs not unlike something you would see in StarWars. There are zap traps and chemical traps, scented glue traps and even tablets that can be dropped into sources of still water that will kill the tadpoles.
Mosquitoes do indeed start as a tadpole-like water-dwelling worm after they hatch from eggs laid by adult female mosquitoes. Most mosquitoes will breed in a permanent water habitat but some species called floor species only appear at specific times of the year and then vanish. The life cycle is simple. They start as eggs and hatch. They become pupa that eats bacteria and algae at the surface of the water, then they are frightened they will do a deep dive down into the water to protect themselves. When they enter the adult stage they leave the water and gain flight. Both early stages or exclusively water born.
They are the most adaptable insect in the world, practically like a trilobite, they can live miles underground in caves and old mines living in tiny puddles of water. They have been found fifteen thousand feet above the ground on mountain tops. Only some species can transmit disease but every species can drain blood and every species is a dangerous nuisance to humanity and the animal kingdom in general. There are 176 species in North America and over three thousand across the globe and they are getting more common and more fearless and that is a very bad thing when they can transmit deadly viruses.
The greatest threat they present is that eggs do not need water to be layed. They can exist in that state for years and years until the right situation arrives and they have enough water to hatch. This is why even if we could kill mosquitoes and wipe them off the face of the earth a bunch of eggs will hatch a few years later and ruin the whole plan.
