Word: mosquito
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...SKIN IS PIERCED A shroud called a labium opens as the hungry mosquito readies herself to bite, revealing fine cutting instruments called stylets...
...SALIVA IS INJECTED The mosquito injects an anticoagulant mixed with saliva through the hypopharynx. This keeps blood flowing easily. It also causes an itchy bump to rise...
...BLOOD IS DRAWN Drinking its fill may take a mosquito a good five minutes. The fine, strawlike labrum (barely wider than a blood cell) draws slowly but also prevents the host from feeling the bite...
Sources: USGS, Rutgers, American Mosquito Control Association, The Way Nature Works...
TRANSMISSION Birds are prime reservoirs of West Nile virus and prime targets of mosquitoes. When a mosquito bites an infected bird like a crow, the virus collects in the insect's saliva and can infect the next target it strikes. The disease may take 3 to 14 days to incubate...