101
votes
Accepted
Can HIV be transmitted via mosquitos?
No, this is not possible. There are a few reasons for that, but most important are that the only thing a mosquito injects is its own saliva, while the blood is sucked into the stomach where it is ...
- 51.5k
18
votes
Why doesn't blood remain on a mosquito's proboscis in quantities that could spread blood-borne diseases?
A mosquito's proboscis isn't like that of a butterfly, which could easily have nectar clinging to it when it is coiled up; instead, consider that the part of the mosquito's proboscis that enters a ...
- 24.7k
13
votes
Can HIV be transmitted via mosquitos?
I am not a medical doctor but in my view this is within the realms of possibility. The probability has been estimated by Princeton at 1 in 10 million. This is per bite, assuming - I presume - that the ...
7
votes
Accepted
Why doesn't blood remain on a mosquito's proboscis in quantities that could spread blood-borne diseases?
What you're talking about is called mechanical transmission (at least in veterinary and medical circles; plant epidemiologists call it something different). There's a nice overview by Gray and ...
- 3,346
7
votes
Accepted
Can insects or mosquitoes be astonished(shocked)?
I originally thought there was no way anyone had studied this - it felt like one of those questions we get here a lot where people seem to assume "scientists know (almost) everything" - but I decided ...
- 44k
5
votes
Accepted
Have some humans evolved to be less attractive to mosquitoes?
We now know based on a twin study that attractiveness to mosquitos is heritable (with a fairly high heritability of 0.62). Based on a genome-wide association study (GWAS) [which is probably the study ...
- 5,324
5
votes
Accepted
What is the highest range mosquito can be detected via Microphone?
In accordance with the article Using mobile phones as acoustic sensors for high-throughput mosquito surveillance mobile phone microphones can detect moscitos in 10 to 100 mm range (depends on a model)....
- 203
4
votes
How do rare mosquito borne diseases get transmitted if they are so rare?
Via Wikipedia:
The virus is transmitted in saliva to a vertebrate host when an infected mosquito takes a blood meal. It thus cycles between mosquito and vertebrate amplifier hosts, mainly white-...
- 44k
3
votes
Accepted
Is continuous exposure to blue light lethal for mosquito larvae?
There are lots of relevant results from Google Search for "blue light mosquito larvae". Here is just one of them:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-14096-y
They are not all only ...
- 855
2
votes
Accepted
How do sporozoites travel into the human host when the mosquito is sucking blood?
Nice question! Basically, the mosquito does not only suck; it also injects some saliva into the host with its saliva glands. From National Geographic:
The mosquito starts salivating as soon as it ...
- 2,711
2
votes
How did mosquitoes expand their habitations to a place they never lived before?
It could be a number of things. Mosquitos need standing water. Look for that. Any changes? Was last year particularly rainy? One group of mosquitos lays its eggs at the waters edge. They lie dormant ...
- 7,637
2
votes
Do adult mosquitoes have color preferences?
Night-time mosquitoes sense IR, UV and CO2 and aromatics as well as colors. Mosquitos can smell blood through the skin too. https://www.asianscientist.com/2015/10/in-the-lab/mosquitoes-detect-veins/
...
- 10.3k
1
vote
Expected number of times a mosquito bites (per night)?
From a couple of species (Culex quinquefasciatus, Anopheles gambiae) I rear and feed in laboratory, I can tell that if the female is not disturbed, she will bite only once, untill her belly if full, ...
- 318
1
vote
Are mosquitoes attracted to blue lights in particular?
It is not an urban myth. UV and blue lamps are good insect attractants. They have been used for many decades in insect traps, and these too work for mosquitoes. These lamps are routinely used in ...
- 6,192
1
vote
Accepted
Are there parasitoids of mosquitoes ? (other than nematodes)
It happens I just found an answer to my question in a recent review book by George Heimpel and Nicolas Mills. It appears that for now we do not know any parasitoid of mosquitoes.
Quoting chapter 1 :
...
- 476
1
vote
Breeding mosquitoes at lower temperature
Check "breeding temperature" and similar obscure phrases for the search.
There's a study on physical aspect of mosquitos bred in cold, they perhaps didn't note any significant metabolism change, you ...
- 10.3k
1
vote
Do adult mosquitoes have color preferences?
Short answer
Mozzie preference to colors depends heavily on the species under investigation, as well as the specific preference test used.
Background
Mosquito color preference has been investigated ...
- 52.3k
1
vote
How to differentiate male and female mosquitoes at pupal stage?
Male and female pupae are consistently slightly different sizes. This isn't particularly obvious to look at them, but allows them to be sorted mechanically by using two sheets of rigid, waterproof ...
- 3,346
1
vote
What is the reproductive success of a biting mosquito?
The amount (percentage) of eggs to mature varies greatly and depends on many factors and off course varies by season.
The correct (but not really satisfying) answer is that from every 100 eggs, ...
- 3,657
1
vote
How exactly do mosquitoes navigate directly on target?
Mosquitoes do not rely on a single cue to find its host. It is the combination of CO2, temperature and odor cues, that makes mosquito an efficient blood feeder.
These two papers might help you in ...
- 630
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible