Mosquito Management Service

CHARACTERISTICS:

Adults:

Globular head, a large part of the surface of which is taken up by the compound eyes; a pair of antennae, which are about three times as long as the head, are somewhat hairy in the female and quite bushy in the male; this difference provides a ready means of distinguishing between the sexes with the naked eye. Also on the head a pair of palps, one on each side of the proboscis; in the female they are smooth, in the male they have tufts of bristles. Mouthparts form a long thin

projecting proboscis which in the female are designed for piercing; there is a single pair of membranous wings which bear tiny scales along the veins as well as a fringe of scales along the hind margin. The wing venation is also typical with 6 longitudinal veins of which the second, fourth and fifth are forked; tarsi are 5-segmented.

Larvae:

Entirely aquatic. They have a well developed head followed by a swollen unsegmented thorax; abdomen is segmented and there is a pair of spiracles on the last but one segment through which they breathe at the water's surface. Tufts of bristles arise from many of the body segments.

Pupae:

Comma-shaped with a curved tail which ends in a pair of paddles; head is equipped with a pair of respiratory trumpets through which the pupa breathes. The fused head and thorax show traces of the wings and long legs of the adult which are developing inside.