Fauna Report: Mosquito

The common mosquito (Aedes aegypti), is commonly only thought of as an annoying nuacence and disease carrying pest. However it is a common prey for bats, fish, and dragonflies. The mosquito lives mostly in riparian and other waterlogged communities because of breeding purposes. Mosquitoes leave eggs in still water where they can sit undisturbed until they reach maturity. Until it becomes an adult it will use this water as its permanent habitat. They spend roughly 10-14 days growing through the process of complete metamorphosis.
Its place of breeding makes it is an excellent food source for fish. It is also why it infects so many people with disease. In places rich with moisture and poverty like some 3rd world countries mosquitoes are given access to many breeding places and a plentiful food source. Without mosquito nets, the poor in these countries are the perfect host. Mosquitoes feed by extracting blood from its prey through a parasitic type of symbiosis. It is sucked in through the proboscis (long sharp straw like body part extruding from the head) and is stored inside the expandable abdomen. The saliva of a mosquito contains both the irritating toxins that induce the itchy feeling on a bite, as well as several other anti-clotting, platelet aggravating, and vascular constricting toxins.
Even though all mosquitoes are often thought of as bloodsucking pests it has been found that, like many other species, the female is the only mosquito that actually takes an aggressive form of feeding. Male mosquitoes normally gain energy through extracting sugary fluids from nectar-rich flowers or fruits. This could also be a reason why mosquitoes are found in such moist, plant-filled environments.
Mosquitoes fill a niche dependent on still water and an abundance of biotic organisms. Likewise it is a leading carrier of Malaria, AIDS, West Nile Virus. The Mosquitoes in my environment are living amongst robins, geese, swan, fish, porcupine, and human beings. It is early in the spring and soon the summer months will be filled with the annoying, biting, nucences. However like many things in life the mosquito is a vital piece in the ecosystem.