How Do Mosquitoes See at Night?

Despite the fact that mosquitoes are attracted to light, they don’t actually see the colors. Instead, they rely on their sense of smell to find a host. Their brains help them identify scents and body heat. They can smell a host from as far as 50 feet away. They also use their antennae to detect heat in the environment.

They can also detect carbon dioxide. The gas is released by humans as they exhale. When the CO2 vapors reach the air, it attracts mosquitoes. They track the plume, and fly toward it when it arrives.

While these findings were not exactly surprising, they still offer new information about how mosquitoes behave. They may help researchers design better traps for mosquitoes. And, they may provide a scientific basis for why some mosquitoes are more attracted to people than others.

The study, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health, is being published in Current Biology. It offers some insight into the behavior of mosquitoes, which are known to transmit many diseases.

The researchers studied how common mosquito species are attracted to different types of light. They found that female mosquitoes prefer certain wavelengths in the visual spectrum. They also found that males prefer females that are buzzing or flying.

In addition to their olfactory sense, mosquitoes have two compound eyes on each side of their heads. Each eye has hundreds of tiny lenses. These allow them to see multiple directions at once. They also use local light sources to navigate.

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