Adult mosquitoes are slender, small long-legged flies with narrow, hairy wings and extended mouthparts. The eggs, depending on species, are deposited on water or vegetation in water, in tree holes, and at sites that hold a high potential for flooding. The northern house mosquito deposits its eggs on end and side by side (called rafts) on the water surface. Some mosquito species can complete their life cycles in as little as 7 days but the northern house mosquito requires a minimum of 10-14 days – more often closer to a month. The mosquito larvae are known as wrigglers because they wriggle around in water as a method of locomotion. When undisturbed, the wrigglers lie just below the water surface and breathe through a tube located on their abdominal end.
Worldwide, there are over 3,000 species of mosquitoes. The United States has approximately 200 documented species and Pennsylvania has about 60 species. Each year diseases transmitted by mosquitoes (such as malaria, yellow fever, dengue and filarial worms) kill or debilitate millions of people, mostly in developing countries located in tropical areas. In Pennsylvania, the risk of contracting a mosquito-borne disease has recently increased with the introduction of West Nile virus (1) (WNV). Fortunately, West Nile virus poses little risk to most Pennsylvanians unless they have compromised immune systems. Other diseases of concern are eastern equine encephalitis and canine heartworm disease (dogs only). Canine heartworm disease is easily prevented, and eastern equine encephalitis rarely occurs (2) far from the Atlantic coastal
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