Information for Junior Secondary

Mosquito

• NZ has 16 species of mosquito
• The Māori name is waeroa.
• Twelve are unique to NZ.
• They are about 5 millimetres long.
• The female bites.  It leaves and itchy welt or raised bump.
• The males feed on flower nectar.
• The mosquito inhabits swamps, lakes and still water.
• Mosquitoes have a 4-stage life cycle: egg, larvae, pupa and adult. The adult is the only one above the water.
• Females lay their eggs in still water and the eggs hatch 2 weeks later.
• The eggs are dropped into the water as the females fly over
• The larvae last about 2 weeks and hatches with a well-developed head with mouth, large thorax and a segmented abdomen but no legs!
• The pupa is shaped like a comma with a head and thorax at the fat end and the abdomen curved underneath.  They swim by flipping its abdomen.
• They need to come to the surface to breathe.
• The pupa does not feed
• The adult emerges from the pupa in about a week.
• Adults mate a few days after emerging and die about 7 days later.
• Blood is their favourite food.  However, they feed on aphid honey dew and nectar.
• Their mouth parts are adapted to pierce skin and suck juice.
• The female, after dropping her eggs, will remate and the cycle repeats, but not much longer than 3 weeks.
• The mosquito has eyes and long, many segmented antennae their job is to detect odours.