GC: n
S: WHO – https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/emergencies-mosquitoes (last access: 13 August 2024); ECDC – https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/disease-vectors/surveillance-and-disease-data/mosquito-maps (last access: 13 August 2024).
N: 1. name given to gnat-like insects the females of which bite animals and draw blood through a piercing and sucking proboscis, 1580s, from Spanish mosquito “little gnat,” diminutive of mosca “fly,” from Latin musca “fly,” from PIE root *mu- “gnat, fly” (compare Sanskrit maksa-, Greek myia, Old English mycg, Modern English midge, Old Church Slavonic mucha), perhaps imitative of the sound of humming insects. Related: Mosquital. Mosquito-hawk as a name for a kind of dragon-fly which preys on mosquitoes is from 1737. Mosquito-net “gauze or other fabric used as a screen against mosquitoes” is from 1745.
2. Also known as: Culicidae. mosquito, (family Culicidae), any of approximately 3,500 species of familiar insects, some of which are important in public health because of the bloodsucking habits of the females. Mosquitoes are known to transmit serious diseases, including yellow fever, Zika fever, malaria, filariasis, and dengue.
3. The slender elongated body of the adult is covered with scales, as are the veins of the wings. Mosquitoes are also characterized by long fragile-looking legs and elongated piercing mouthparts. The feathery antennae of the male are generally bushier than those of the female. The males, and sometimes the females, feed on nectar and other plant juices and are known pollinators. In most species, however, the females require the proteins obtained from a blood meal in order to mature their eggs. Different species of mosquitoes show preferences and, in many cases, narrow restrictions as to host animals.
4. The eggs are laid on the surface of water and hatch into aquatic larvae, or wrigglers, which swim with a jerking, wriggling movement. In most species, larvae feed on algae and organic debris, although a few are predatory and may even feed on other mosquitoes. Unlike most insects, mosquitoes in the pupal stage, called tumblers, are active and free-swimming. The pupae breathe by means of tubes on the thorax. The adults mate soon after emerging from their pupal cases. The duration of the life cycle varies greatly, depending on the species.
Mosquitoes are apparently attracted to host animals by moisture, lactic acid, carbon dioxide, body heat, and movement. The mosquito’s hum results from the high frequency of its wingbeats, and the female’s wingbeat frequency may serve as a means of sex recognition.
5. Cultural Interrelation: We can mention Mosquitoes (1927), a satiric novel written by the American author William Faulkner (1897-1962), the song The Mosquito by American rock band The Doors from their 1972 album Full Circle, and the novel The Mosquito Coast (1981) written by Paul Theroux.
S: 1. Etymonline – https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=mosquito (last access: 13 August 2024). 2 to 4. EncBrit – https://www.britannica.com/animal/mosquito-insect (last access: 13 August 2024). 5. GR – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/417783.Mosquitoes, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/130520.The_Mosquito_Coast (last access: 13 August 2024); Amazon – https://www.amazon.es/CD-SINGLE-DOORS-Mosquito-2-track/dp/B074SGY912 (last access: 13 August 2024).
SYN:
S:
CR: Aedes aegypti, Aedes japonicus, culicine mosquito, anopheline, Stegomyia albopicta, Toxorhynchites rutilus, West Nile encephalitis, West Nile fever, West Nile virus.
