Mosquitoes Bite

     Mosquitoes are the fascinating insects that we are all guilty of swatting.  There are over 3,500 species of mosquitoes worldwide.  That's more swats than you can count.  Like most bugs, they have 4 stages of development.  They spend the first three stages of their lives as eggs, larvae, and  then pupae that develop in 4 to 15 days in still water like puddles.  After the pupa hatches into an adult, it lives about  another 4 to 8 weeks as a mosquito.

    

     Mosquitoes are infamous for biting people and spreading diseases such as the West Nile Virus and Yellow Fever.  Even though all mosquitoes carry diseases, only the female mosquito bite humans and other mammals.  The only reason they bite people is so that they can get extra nutrients such as iron and protein.  Mosquitoes are an important part of the ecosystem.  Guppies, bats, and dragonflies eat them to survive.  So next time you kill a mosquito, think twice about the affect it has on the environment.

http://www.wikipedia.com/