Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
mosquito
Table of Contents
References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics
Images, Videos & Interactives
Aedes mosquito
The video thumbnail shows a black and white image of a mosquito biting a human arm. The area it is biting is highlighted in pink.
How did mosquitoes inspire advanced vision systems?
Diagram showing diversity among dipterans Mosquito larvae Anopheles mosquito: malaria vector Northern house mosquito Aedes aegypti Mosquito larva and adult
Examine one effort to develop new mosquito repellents with natural compounds
For Students
Mosquito (Theobaldia anulata)
mosquito summary
Quizzes
Lion (panthera leo)
Deadliest Animals Quiz
wasp. Vespid Wasp (Vespidaea) with antennas and compound eyes drink nectar from a cherry. Hornets largest eusocial wasps, stinging insect in the order Hymenoptera, related to bees. Pollination
Know Your Bugs Quiz
Encyclopaedia Britannica thistle graphic to be used with a Mendel/Consumer quiz in place of a photograph.
27 True-or-False Questions from Britannica’s Most Difficult Science Quizzes
Read Next
Macro Aedes aegypti Mosquito. Close up a Mosquito sucking human blood,
What Purposes Do Mosquitoes Serve in Ecosystems?
Mosquito on human skin.
10 Deadly Animals that Fit in a Breadbox
Macro Aedes aegypti Mosquito. Close up a Mosquito sucking human blood,
Why Do Mosquito Bites Itch?
Lateral view of an adult bedbug, Cimex lectularius, as it was in the process of ingesting a blood meal from the arm of a voluntary human host. Photo dated 2006.
8 Animals That Suck (Blood)
Discover
Rural Irish landscape, Sligo, Ireland.
Why Is Ireland Two Countries?
Battle of the Alamo from "Texas: An Epitome of Texas History from the Filibustering and Revolutionary Eras to the Independence of the Republic, 1897. Texas Revolution, Texas revolt, Texas independence, Texas history.
6 Wars of Independence
Lusitania sinking, illustration from The War of the Nations (New York), December 31, 1919. World War I, WWI. This image is one of three on the page. (See source file for the other two.)
7 of the World’s Deadliest Shipwrecks
Entrants falling and tumbling over while chasing the cheese at the 2016 'Cheese Rolling' held at Cooper's Hill, in the Cotswolds, Brockworth England
7 of the World’s Most Dangerous Festivals
African Americans demonstrating for voting rights in front of the White House as police and others watch, March 12, 1965. One sign reads, "We demand the right to vote everywhere." Voting Rights Act, civil rights.
Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement
New Zealand. Political/Physical map. Includes locator.
Where Is “Old Zealand”?
Groups of depositors in front of the closed American Union Bank, New York City. April 26, 1932. Great Depression run on bank crowd
Causes of the Great Depression

mosquito: Facts & Related Content

verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Share
Share to social media
URL
https://www.britannica.com/facts/mosquito-insect
Written and fact-checked by
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

The Information Architects maintain a master list of the topics included in the corpus of  Encyclopædia Britannica, and create and manage the relationships between them.
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

News •

Drug For Rare Disease Turns Human Blood Into Mosquito Poison • Mar. 27, 2025, 7:42 AM ET (ScienceAlert)

Facts

Also Known As Culicidae

Photos and Videos

Aedes mosquito
Diagram showing diversity among dipterans
Mosquito larvae
Anopheles mosquito: malaria vector
Northern house mosquito
Aedes aegypti
Mosquito
Anopheles mosquito
mosquito
auditory mechanisms in insects
The video thumbnail shows a black and white image of a mosquito biting a human arm. The area it is biting is highlighted in pink.
How did mosquitoes inspire advanced vision systems?
Examine one effort to develop new mosquito repellents with natural compounds
Know about zoonosis disease and how it spreads from animals to humans
See All Videos, Images and Interactives →

Related Topics and References

Topics

Key People

Walter Reed
Walter Reed
American pathologist and bacteriologist
Carlos J. Finlay
Carlos J. Finlay
Cuban physician
Sir Ronald Ross, bronze relief by Frank Bowcher, 1929; in the National Portrait Gallery, London
Sir Ronald Ross
British doctor
Lancisi, miniature by an unknown artist
Giovanni Maria Lancisi
Italian physician
Agramonte y Simoni, Aristides
Aristides Agramonte y Simoni
Cuban-American scientist
Manson, detail of an oil painting by J. Young Hunter, 1912; in the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, London
Sir Patrick Manson
Scottish parasitologist
Jesse William Lazear
American physician
Marston Bates
American zoologist

Related Quizzes and Features

Quiz
wasp. Vespid Wasp (Vespidaea) with antennas and compound eyes drink nectar from a cherry. Hornets largest eusocial wasps, stinging insect in the order Hymenoptera, related to bees. Pollination
Know Your Bugs Quiz
Lion (panthera leo)
Deadliest Animals Quiz
Encyclopaedia Britannica thistle graphic to be used with a Mendel/Consumer quiz in place of a photograph.
27 True-or-False Questions from Britannica’s Most Difficult Science Quizzes
List
Lateral view of an adult bedbug, Cimex lectularius, as it was in the process of ingesting a blood meal from the arm of a voluntary human host. Photo dated 2006.
8 Animals That Suck (Blood)
Demystified
Macro Aedes aegypti Mosquito. Close up a Mosquito sucking human blood,
Why Do Mosquito Bites Itch?