Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Hardy creatures

Wahey! An actual mosquito post!

Before I left for London during the Christmas break, I decided to kill off my adult Aedes aegypti colony. This is done by getting rid of their food and water. They should then die fairly quickly. Surprisingly, they are still alive. On top of that, Aedes aegypti eggs can be kept on dry paper for months. And to hatch them, just simply add them to a tub of water! It goes to show how hardy these creatures are, and so such successful pests.

What do the eggs look like?

Okay, not the most brilliant picture... but here is a female adult (dead) with some eggs (hers probably). It's the black stuff by the way! And the size of one egg (circled red) is about the size of this comma (,).
So if you live in a place with Aedes mosquitoes, and have some odd desire to find their eggs... check damp areas like wet grounds or water containing vessels (including natural ones like rock pools, puddles, leaf axils and tree holes). Note that the eggs tend to stick to the sides of vessels that contains/recently contained water.

Hope that was useful information...

No comments: