How Fast Mosquito Fly
WouterUntil recently, scientists were not able to understand how fast a mosquito could fly. But recent advances in technology have allowed researchers to see the movements of flies up close.
Now, researchers have uncovered two new aerodynamic mechanisms that are used by mosquitoes to fly. One mechanism is a swiveling motion that creates pockets of air, which launch the insect into flight. Another is a rapid flapping stroke.
This type of movement may be a sophisticated way for the insect to avoid detection. A signal from the brain to the spinal cord to the arm muscles occurs in milliseconds.
The swiveling motion also helps the mosquito generate lift. This particular mechanism is called the trailing edge vortex, and is a function of how the wing is rotated. The swiveling motion also causes the wings to shift their turning axis from front to back.
The wing flaps of a mosquito are smaller than those of a typical insect, but they move faster. The fastest mosquitoes are able to flap their wings up to 800 times per second.
The most common species of mosquito are unable to fly more than a few hundred feet from their breeding grounds. However, some species are capable of flying further. The saltmarsh mosquito, for example, can travel as far as 40 miles from its birthplace.
A team of researchers from Oxford University’s Animal Flight Group, the Royal Veterinary College, and Chiba University in Japan studied the physics of mosquito flight and recorded high speed video. The researchers used eight high speed cameras to record insects’ movements at 10,000 frames per second. This allowed them to observe the subtle three-dimensional movements of the wings and simulate the airflow produced by the beating wings.
