they have air sex
CHARLES BURY
All things in nature have a use, right? Plants, animals, even bugs. We're taught that all God's critters (or whomever's) fit into the greater scheme of things. Even what we call the 'nuisance species' are part of the bigger picture.
I guess that means mosquitoes have their place too, although I'm not sure what it is. Ah yes, now I recall, they feed the birds.
They also provide woodland creatures such as moose and man with lots of daily exercise, as we both go to great lengths to escape the insect's itchy bite. Humans wear funny clothes, carry insect-killing weapons - the flyswatter - hang sticky paper around the house (although flypaper is going out of style), and lure their enemies the flies into high-voltage traps that make the electric chair seem humane.
Worse, we douse ourselves in toxic chemicals to drive the flies away.
Moose will stay underwater, roll themselves in mud and run for higher ground and clearings to avoid the swarms of spring and summer. This can have unfortunate side effects - roads and railway tracks are favorite open areas where the moose will hang around to escape the mosquito's wrath.
On the highway, it's 'Bang, you're roadkill', and maybe the moose is too. On the tracks, the odds are against the moose, so it's more like 'Bang, your moose is meat'.
Anyway, let's take a look at the mosquito's side of things, as explained
by Agriculture Canada - and wait 'til you find out about their sex lives.
If Canada ever gets a national insect, maybe the mosquito should be it. They're everywhere from coast to coast to coast, "in every part of Canada except on a few of the small Arctic Islands."
"Other biting flies may be severe pests in certain areas, but mosquitoes are ubiquitous, and may be encountered both day and night, and from early spring until late summer, giving no respite even in autumn in some years. As if these obnoxious habits were not enough, mosquitoes are the only biting flies in Canada that transmit disease organisms to man."
Up to now, 74 species have been recorded in Canada. "The first ones to appear in spring, sometimes before all the snow has melted, are females that have just come out of hibernation. The majority of species hatch in early spring from over-wintering eggs, and develop as larvae in pools of meltwater. These early species account for the great surge in numbers of mosquitoes as soon as the leaves appear on the trees.
A few species (especially Aedes vexans, Canada's worst pest mosquito) that are capable of repeated rapid generations during hot weather may become unbelievably abundant during summers with heavy rainfall, resulting in a severe reduction in livestock gains and milk production. The prairies are acutely affected when such a wet summer occurs, but any part of southern Canada can experience outbreaks of vexans."
Mosquitoes are born in water, but they don't need much. "...Temporary snowmelt pools support the greatest number of species, mostly species of Aedes, and perhaps also the greatest number of individuals. The drying up of these pools in summer is of no consequence once adults have emerged from them, because their eggs survive desiccation, sometimes for many years. Even specialized habitats, such as the water in tree holes or pitcher-plant leaves, contain species of mosquitoes found nowhere else."
Mosquitoes' enemies face feast or famine. "...Although many kinds of predators have evolved to exploit this abundant food source, few are effective enough at significantly reducing the numbers of larvae to be exploitable as biocontrol agents. Parasites and disease organisms also have their difficulties adapting to such a rapid change from feast to famine."
You think kids today are weird? Check out the young mosquito: "Mosquito larvae, also called wrigglers, are surprisingly complex animals anatomically. They have no legs but can swim rapidly by lashing their body from side to side. Although minute larvae may breathe through their skin, older larvae breath air at the water surface through a pair of small openings, or spiracles, at their posterior end.
In most species, the spiracles are elevated on the end of a conical siphon, which gives the larvae a characteristic appearance (imagine changing the diapers on these suckers). Larvae are often seen suspended from the surface film, each by the apex of its siphon, sustained by surface tension..." And when they finally turn right-side-up, some of those unruly juveniles, admittedly a minority, are actually underwater cannibals.
"Except for a couple of rare species whose larvae are predaceous on aquatic organisms, especially other mosquito larvae, all mosquito larvae feed on plant material, either living (as algae or floating pollen) or dead... Food particles are gathered with a pair of brushes, the labral brushes, on either side of the mouth. Each brush consists of tightly packed rows of hundreds of long hairs - the hairs may be extended simultaneously by internal blood pressure, or collapsed, row by row, by the pull of a complex set of muscles. Extension and collapse are rapidly repeated, several times per second, entrapping nearby particles as well as generating a current in the water which brings more particles into range."
Don't you wish your kids would try this? "Entrapped food is then combed out and directed into the mouth by the remaining mouth parts (mandibles, maxillae, and so forth) which are among the most complex found in any animal. This type of feeding, called filter-feeding, is also practiced by larvae of black flies and by those of several other non-blood-sucking families of flies.
Mosquito larvae of the genus Aedes are not dependent on particles already in suspension but can create them by rasping dead leaves and other submerged organic material with the comb-tipped hairs of their labral brushes. The sharp-tipped mandibles can also break up larger particles into ones small enough to be eaten."
"The pupae, shaped like tiny tadpoles with the tail tucked underneath, normally rest motionless at the water surface, breathing through a pair of funnel-shaped structures, called trumpets, located just behind the head. When disturbed, they can swim rapidly to the bottom and hide among the debris there, an ability almost unique among insect pupae."
Okay, you got this far, so here's the mating thing. You can make your own conclusions but it's the males which hang around the street corners and the females which have all the fun - and suck your blood to boot:
"Adults emerge from their pupal skins at the water surface. When free of its pupal case, an adult can stand on the surface until its wings harden... Males then assemble in certain areas appropriate to the species, usually clearings in the forest, where they take flight and form swarms at daybreak and again at dusk, in hopes of intercepting a female.
Unmated females are also attracted to these clearings, and the hum of their approaching wing beats is detected by the long whorls of erect hairs on the antennal segments of the males."
"An approaching female, once detected, is immediately intercepted by one or more males; the successful suitor captures her in midair, and they mate in flight, completing the process either in the air or as they drift downward to land in the vegetation below.
After mating, the male presumably returns to the swarm, whereas the female leaves the area to begin her quest for a suitable host (you or me or a moose) and a meal of blood." Charlie Bury is a freelance writer based in Birchton, Quebec.
Copyright © 1999 Charles Bury/Log Cabin Chronicles/6.99 |
