Mosquito and Diseases Mosquitoes and Disease Life Cycle in the Mosquito Mosquitoes are insects with long slender bodies, narrow wings with a fringe of scales on the edge of the wing and along the veins, and long, thin legs. The females have firm mouthparts, usually well-adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood. The males cannot suck blood but both sexes feed on nectar of various plants.
Mosquitoes are small insects with piercing-sucking mouthparts, and scales on their wings.
Female mosquitoes suck blood but do not always need blood to lay the first batch of eggs. The eggs may be laid singly or in rafts, deposited in water, on the sides of containers where water will soon cover, or on damp soil where they can hatch when flooded by rainwater or high tides. Common breeding sites for mosquitoes are drainage ditches, ponds, tin cans, old tires and tree holes. The larvae pass through 4 stages in about 7 to 10 days. The pupal stage lasts 2 to 3 days, and the adult emerges from the pupal skin at the water surface.