Life Cycle of an Aedes Mosquito
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Under optimal conditions, the egg of an Aedes
mosquito can hatch into a larva in less than a day. The larva then takes
about four days to develop into a pupa, from which an adult mosquito
will emerge after two days. Three days after the mosquito has bitten a
person and taken in blood, it will lay eggs, and the cycle begins again. |
Did you know?
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- 1. Only the female Aedes mosquito bites as it needs the protein in blood to develop its eggs.
- 2. The mosquito becomes infective approximately seven
days after it has bitten a person carrying the virus. This is the
extrinsic incubation period, during which time the virus replicates
in the mosquito and reaches the salivary glands.
- 3. Peak biting is at dawn and dusk.
- 4. The average lifespan of an Aedes mosquito in Nature is two weeks.
- 5. The mosquito can lay eggs about three times in its lifetime, and about 100 eggs are produced each time.
- 6. The eggs can lie dormant in dry conditions for up
to about nine months, after which they can hatch if exposed to
favourable conditions, i.e. water and food.
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