• Adult mosquitoes live indoors and outdoors.
  • Mosquito species can be categorized as:
    • Diurnal — active during the day
    • Crepuscular — peaks of activity at dawn and dusk
    • Nocturnal — active during the night
  • Adult mosquitoes live for about 2 to 4 weeks depending on the species, humidity, temperature, and other factors. Females often live longer than males.
  • Only female mosquitoes bite people and animals to get a blood meal. Female mosquitoes need a blood meal to produce eggs.
  • Mosquitoes get infected with germs, such as viruses and parasites, when they bite infected people and animals.
  • A few infected mosquitoes can start an outbreak in a community and put you and your family at risk of becoming sick.
  • Mosquitoes have an extremely sophisticated sensory system to search for humans, and they are sensitive to the signals emitted by humans. Mosquitoes first detect CO2 in exhaled breath. While the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is 0.04%, human exhaled breath contains 1–10% of CO2. The amount of CO2 contained in exhaled breath varies from person to person and from the same person by activity.
  • Mosquitoes detect CO2 at 30 ft or more from humans and activate flight behavior. Mosquitoes then approach humans, relying on visual information and odors [1]. Eventually they detect heat and moisture and land on humans. After landing, their sense of taste detects human skin.
  • Some species, like Aedes aegypti, Aedes increpitus, and Aedes albopictus, have limited flight ranges of under 200 yards. Most species can travel 1-3 miles, while Aedes vexans mosquitoes can fly over 25 miles on favorable winds.
  • Most mosquito species are active around dawn and dusk and into the evening hours. However, Aedes aegypti is active during the day. Activity increases after rain and in warm, humid conditions.
  • Mosquitoes lay their eggs in or near standing water, which is essential for their development. Common backyard breeding sources include clogged gutters, birdbaths, flowerpots, and water-holding plants like bromeliads. In natural environments, mosquitoes also breed in swamps, marshes, floodplains, ditches, and tree holes. Some species favor freshwater habitats, while others thrive in brackish or saltwater. Regularly checking and eliminating standing water, especially in hidden or overlooked areas, can help reduce mosquito populations and prevent breeding.
  • Aedes and Ochlerotatus mosquitoes are painful and persistent biters. They search for a blood meal early in the morning, at dusk (crepuscular feeders) and into the evening. Some are diurnal (daytime biters) especially on cloudy days and in shaded areas. They usually do not enter dwellings, and they prefer to bite mammals like humans. Aedes and Ochlerotatus mosquitoes are strong fliers and are known to fly many miles from their breeding sources.
  • Culex mosquitoes are painful and persistent biters also but prefer to attack at dusk and after dark. They readily enter dwellings for blood meals. Domestic and wild birds usually are preferred over humans, cows, and horses. Culex mosquitoes are generally weak fliers and do not move far from home, although they have been known to fly up to two miles. Culex females usually live only a few weeks during the warm summer months. Those females that emerge in late summer search for sheltered areas where they "hibernate" until spring. Warm weather brings them out again in search of water on which to lay their eggs.
  • Culiseta mosquitoes are moderately aggressive biters, attacking in the evening hours or in the shade during the day.
  • Psorophora, Coquillettidia and Mansonia mosquitoes are becoming more pestiferous as an ever-expanding human population invades their natural habitats. Anopheles mosquitoes are persistent biters and are the only mosquitoes which transmit malaria to man.
  • Females need only mate once but often mate more frequently. On mating, the sperm in the form of a sperm plugs are transferred into the vagina of the female; then migrate to the spermathecae where they are stored until required. When the female is ovipositing, the sperm enters the egg as it passes down the genital tract. One mating provides enough sperm to last the insect's lifetime.
  • In some species males form a swarm and the females fly into the swarm where they couple with a male. In some species, mating takes place on the host vertebrate shortly after the female takes a blood meal. Male mosquitoes normally emerge 24 hours prior to the females.