How Do Mosquitoes Reproduce Without Blood?
WouterUnless a female mosquito has a blood meal, it will not lay eggs. Female mosquitoes rely on the protein in blood to help them produce eggs.
When female mosquitoes mate, they fertilize eggs that they lay in water. The eggs hatch within 24 to 48 hours. Some female mosquitoes lay up to 100 eggs at a time.
The larvae of mosquitoes are very tiny worms that feed on animals, bacteria and microscopic plants. They undergo four stages of development. After hatching, they grow for five days, molt three times, and change shape. They then enter the pupal stage. They live in water for a few days before developing into an adult.
The mosquito larvae have a hard outer skeleton. They taste water by dipping their legs and mouthparts into the water. They also ingest organic material through mouth brushes. This allows the larvae to replenish their metabolic reserves. The larvae also use their mouthparts to pierce the skin of their host.
When a female mosquito bites a vertebrate host, it secretes saliva into the bloodstream. This allows the female mosquito to store the sperm from the mating session. The sperm then forms into eggs. The female mosquito can lay between two hundred and three hundred eggs when it receives a blood meal.
Aedes aegypti, a mosquito that spreads viruses that cause yellow fever and dengue fever, is an example of an anautogenous species. It evolved from a generalist feeder in Africa.
