Research: Monstrous Mosquitoes

             After the mosquito encounter, I thought I might as well read up on the critter and see if there were any facts I could dig up that I didn’t know before. Turns out, it’s a good thing I did.

I didn’t believe it when I read it, but this first fact kind of took me by surprise. Did you know that mosquitoes are useful?

Yes, you read that right, and no, it’s true. This stuff comes from Wikipedia, so, well.

Anyway, how are they useful? And how useful are they?

Good questions.

Believe it or not, mosquitoes actually benefit the ecosystem. They are literally at the bottom link of the food chain; according to Dr. Gilbert Waldbauer (The Handy Bug Answer Book), the larvae feed by straining tiny organic stuff like algae from the water around them and creating body tissue out of it. 

This turns them into nice little nutrient packs for hungry little fish that have by now probably gotten used to the fact that mosquito larvae will be around for the unforeseeable future. Take away the larvae, and certain kinds of fish will probably die out.

  Okay, maybe that’s not useful to you personally unless you’re a fan of sushi. But turns out the adult mosquito is on the menu as well. They are pretty much a part of a staple diet for bats, birds and spiders, and pretty much anything else hungry and lucky enough to have one hum by.

Which would probably go far in explaining why mosquitoes are so annoying to us humans. It might be that they’re so mad at the fact that nature shoved them down at the bottom of the food chain and made it so practically all other critters see them as dinner. Who can blame them for taking it out on us, the self-proclaimed 'top of the food chain mammal'?

Well, I do. They're just a bunch of whiny sore losers. Bah.

           But the sad fact is, we can't get rid of mosquitoes entirely, unless we're also okay with wiping out a few other species that are in their way much more useful to the rest of the world in general. The darn bugs won't even go down without taking hostages along with them, stubborn pests.

           Darn ironic when you think about it, too.


           They would totally have the last laugh. If we try to kill them off, we also end up sending every species that has been preying on them for the last millennia or so to a slow death by starvation.

It’s as if the mosquitoes are all “You try and wipe us out, we’re taking those folks out with us. In your FACE!”

And sad to say, that latter part is quite literal. Along with our ears and our cheeks and ankles...

  

Quite understandably, that’s probably the only way they ‘help’ the world. And frankly, you have to admit, albeit grudgingly, it’s the best insurance for a species there is. Sure, the sacrifices that go as premium seem a little high, but to the ones that don’t end up as sustenance or a smear on a palm, it would seem a pretty good deal.

After all, if they’re lucky, they can live for about five to six months, which is a pretty long life span as far as bugs are considered.

Other than that, it turns out that they are ranked as the ‘deadliest animals on earth’. Oh yes.

All those memes and television programs and rallies you saw that tell you that humans are the most deadliest animals alive? It’s a lie. The mosquito takes the trophy there, with all the diseases they help spread around. You know of malaria, dengue and yellow fever. Have you heard about filariasis and encephalitis? With names like that, I don’t even want to know

Another little known fact; the mosquito that carries around that vile little fever known as dengue? That’s a whole new species entirely.

There are people out there who are aware of such an existence. No, not the doctors and scientists, I’m talking about normal people like you and… well, I don’t want to insult you by saying me, but you get the point. But no one is perfect. The people up there who know about this different species thing?

They have no idea what makes it different. After I had different people tell me that it was smaller, larger, and/or differently colored from the rest, I realized what I needed.

Google.

And here I am, sharing my knowledge. Thank you, Wikipedia, for setting my mind at ease.

The specific species that ferries the dengue fever around happens to be called the Aedes aegypti. Aptly named, as far as I’m considered. I present to you, the Hades mosquito

Yup, no doubt about it. That thing definitely flew up out of the underworld. You can identify it as different from the rest by the white spots all over the otherwise black body. According to my new best friend, Wikipedia, this little demon has a lifespan of two to four weeks. Oh, joy.

Its eggs, however, make up for that. Unlike most other mosquitos, the Aedes doesn’t need to lay its eggs directly in water. The eggs can survive for over a year in dry conditions, and then hatch if they get submerged. Seems legit; lay the eggs on top of a roof, go off and die a couple of weeks later. When the next rains come down, your kids will literally follow in your footsteps.

Or, rather, wingbeats.

This is why the dengue fever is usually rampant during the rainy seasons in tropical countries, it doesn’t really matter when or where the eggs are laid as long as they get submerged sooner or later. It also explains why the countries with dengue are having such a swell time trying to get rid of it. ‘Trying’ being the keyword there.

If you’re looking up at that earlier picture and wondering what makes the Aedes look any different from the rest, well, I don’t blame you. Most people slap first and look later. If they do look at all, that is. Examining and identifying a flattened corpse? I’ll pass over, too.

Here is another species for comparison, the Culiseta longiareolata. (Seriously, sometimes I find myself wondering if the latin names scientists come up with are just jokes they play on the rest of us poor, dimwitted Neanderthals)

Well, yes, it has its differences. This one is blue and the other was black. You’re just going to slap at it either way, so it probably doesn’t matter. Don’t say I didn’t warn you about the white stripes, though.

And to wrap this up, here’s something you can do if you happen to find an uninvited guest on your person, despite all the precautions that you managed to fail taking.

Ugh. Haven’t tried that one (yet), and I’m kinda curious. If you happen to find yourself with a mosquito dining on your forearm and you somehow remember that advice and decide to take it… well, let me know how it went.

Curiosity killed the mosquito. And there’s a line I never in my life thought I’d ever find myself using

All Thanks to Wikipedia and About.com/insects