Biology of Mosquitoes

Regarding their special adaptational mechanisms, mosquitoes are capable of thriving in a variety of environments. There is hardly any aquatic habitat anywhere in the world that does not lend itself as a breeding site for mosquitoes. They colonise the temporary and permanent, highly polluted as well as clean, large and small water bodies; even the smallest accumulations such as water-filled buckets, flower vases, tyres, hoof prints and leaf axes are potential sources. In temporarily flooded areas, along rivers or lakes with water fluctuations, floodwater mosquitoes such as Aedes vexans or Ochlerotatus sticticus develop in large numbers and with a flight range of several miles, become a tremendous nuisance even in places located far away from their breeding sites (Mohrig 1969; Becker and Ludwig 1981; Schafer et al. 1997).