Mosquitoes are the small biting insects, found all over the world in millions and trillions.
The important groups (or genera) of mosquitoes in India that spread diseases are four. T hey are Anopheles, Culex, Aedes and Mansonia. Morphology A mosquito has a cylindrical body, divisable into three parts namely head, thorax and abdomen.
Head and thorax are connected by a small fleshy neck, while thorax and abdomen are continuous . Head Head is spherical and bears the following structures: •Apairoflarge, prominent,compoundeyes. •Alongneedlelikestructureinthecenter,anteriorly,called ‘Proboscis’ with which it bites and sucks. •Apairofmaxillarypalpi,oneoneithersideofproboscis.It is long in male and short in female, except in anopheline female mosquito, which also possesses long palpi. •Apairofantennae,eachonelateraltopalpi,withwhichit feels. The hairs over antennae are long and bushy in male mosquitoes and short and less bushy in female mosquitoes . Thorax T he thorax is large and round. The dorsal surface is formed by a large plate, the mesonotum. The posterior end of thethorax bears a projection like structure called scutellum, to which hairs are attached, the arrangement of which helps in identification of the mosquitoes . Thorax bears the following structures: Wings: A pair in number attached dorsally, help for flying . The buzzing noise of the mosquitoes is due to beating of the wings and not due to singing. Halters: A pair of rudimentary wings are located below the wings, which helps the mosquito to maintain the balance while flying. So they are also called balancers.
Legs: Three pairs of legs are attached ventrally. They are multi jointed. The tip of the last segment ends in a pair of claws
