[NatureNS] Re: Do virgin mosquitos bite?

Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2015 16:07:15 -0400
From: pce@accesswave.ca
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101
To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
References: <61C044E629084715B7032A7A99D1EBF7@StaplesPC>
Precedence: bulk
Return-Path: <naturens-mml-owner@chebucto.ns.ca>
Original-Recipient: rfc822;"| (cd /csuite/info/Environment/FNSN/MList; /csuite/lib/arch2html)"

next message in archive
next message in thread
previous message in archive
Index of Subjects


This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

--Boundary_(ID_R9m2Cye6sM19NxOjhzxQcA)
Content-type: text/plain; CHARSET=US-ASCII; format=flowed
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

In response to my query about virgin mosquitoes, I had a very 
informative reply sent directly to me from Dr. Murray Colbo. With his 
permission, I'm sending it on to NatureNS. I've edited it somewhat to 
include more information he sent in a subsequent email.

Peter Payzant
Waverley

 From Murray Colbo:

"Mosquitoes in the house in winter is because certain species of 
mosquitoes overwinter as adult females. The females of the genus /Culex/ 
(at least 3 spp in NS), /Culiseta /(at least 1 species), and /Anopheles 
/(three species) overwinter as adults.  In nature they would overwinter 
in cavities such as logs, under bark of dead trees, upturned trees etc. 
I have had them come out of firewood that I brought in during winter. 
However they will also overwinter in walls and attics, and cold 
basements of buildings.

"The females emerge during the previous late summer and fall, they then 
mate and take a blood meal before seeking a winter shelter to remain in 
until spring.  Most of our mosquito species overwinter in the egg stage 
although one which does not blood feed, with larvae in the pitchers of 
pitcher plants, overwinters as a larva frozen in the ice in the pitcher.

"Some species may take a fall blood meal while others will diapause on 
reserves from their larval stage and sugar meals. Those females that do 
take blood use it as a food source for development of their eggs, 
however the blood meal taken by the overwintering females in the fall is 
used to make a fat reserve for an energy source carried over the winter 
and for first activity in spring. Normally energy for flight comes from 
sugars obtained from plants (flowers, honey dew, leaking sap). Thus the 
overwintering females are mated already and store sperm till they 
develop the eggs the following spring and summer.  In the spring they 
will seek another blood meal to develop the egg batches.

"/Culiseta /are large mosquitoes which one may see very early in spring 
even when temperatures are not much above freezing as they are quite 
cold tolerant for their flight activity.

"/Anopheles punctipennis/ and /An. earlei/ are widespread but normally 
not abundant as pests. Both are capable of being vectors of malaria but 
only if a person with malaria is present when they are active in warm 
weather. /An. walkeri/ is also recorded here but it's not known if it 
can vector malaria.

"/Culex pipiens/ and /C. restuans/ are vectors of viruses such as West 
Nile and eastern and western equine encephalitis but we have not had a 
outbreak here in last few years. One other species, /C. territans/, 
feeds on amphibians."



--Boundary_(ID_R9m2Cye6sM19NxOjhzxQcA)
Content-type: text/html; charset=windows-1252
Content-transfer-encoding: 8BIT

<html>
  <head>

    <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
  </head>
  <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
    In response to my query about virgin mosquitoes, I had a very
    informative reply sent directly to me from Dr. Murray Colbo. With
    his permission, I'm sending it on to NatureNS. I've edited it
    somewhat to include more information he sent in a subsequent email.<br>
    <br>
    Peter Payzant<br>
    Waverley<br>
    <br>
    From Murray Colbo:<br>
    <br>
    "Mosquitoes in the house in winter is because certain species of
    mosquitoes overwinter as adult females. The females of the genus <i>Culex</i>
    (at least 3 spp in NS), <i>Culiseta </i>(at least 1 species), and
    <i>Anopheles </i>(three species) overwinter as adults.  In nature
    they would overwinter in cavities such as logs, under bark of dead
    trees, upturned trees etc. I have had them come out of firewood that
    I brought in during winter. However they will also overwinter in
    walls and attics, and cold basements of buildings.<br>
    <br>
    "The females emerge during the previous late summer and fall, they
    then mate and take a blood meal before seeking a winter shelter to
    remain in until spring.  Most of our mosquito species overwinter in
    the egg stage although one which does not blood feed, with larvae in
    the pitchers of pitcher plants, overwinters as a larva frozen in the
    ice in the pitcher. <br>
    <br>
    "Some species may take a fall blood meal while others will diapause
    on reserves from their larval stage and sugar meals. Those females
    that do take blood use it as a food source for development of their
    eggs, however the blood meal taken by the overwintering females in
    the fall is used to make a fat reserve for an energy source carried
    over the winter and for first activity in spring. Normally energy
    for flight comes from sugars obtained from plants (flowers, honey
    dew, leaking sap). Thus the overwintering females are mated already
    and store sperm till they develop the eggs the following spring and
    summer.  In the spring they will seek another blood meal to develop
    the egg batches.<br>
     <br>
    "<i>Culiseta </i>are large mosquitoes which one may see very early
    in spring even when temperatures are not much above freezing as they
    are quite cold tolerant for their flight activity. <br>
     <br>
    "<i>Anopheles punctipennis</i> and <i>An. earlei</i> are widespread
    but normally not abundant as pests. Both are capable of being
    vectors of malaria but only if a person with malaria is present when
    they are active in warm weather.  <i>An. walkeri</i> is also
    recorded here but it's not known if it can vector malaria.<br>
     <br>
    "<i>Culex pipiens</i> and <i>C. restuans</i> are vectors of viruses
    such as West Nile and eastern and western equine encephalitis but we
    have not had a outbreak here in last few years. One other species, <i>C.
      territans</i>, feeds on amphibians."<br>
    <br>
    <br>
  </body>
</html>

--Boundary_(ID_R9m2Cye6sM19NxOjhzxQcA)--

next message in archive
next message in thread
previous message in archive
Index of Subjects