Those pesky blood-sucking bugs

 (Léase en español / Read in Spanish)

Someday I hope to find the answer to one of life’s most troubling questions: Why the mosquito? But until then we have to put up with the inevitable peskiness of these blood-sucking insects. And because some species of mosquitoes transmit extremely harmful diseases, some would argue that mosquitoes are the most dangerous animals on Earth.

We are in South America and within the tropical zone, that is, we are between the equator and the tropic of Capricorn. So you might think that we are plagued with mosquitoes. However here in Tarija, Bolivia, at an elevation of almost 6,000 feet, the situation isn’t too bad. But are there mosquitoes? Well...

Do you remember the recent Monthly Mystery Macro? There were some interesting guesses as to what was shown in the photo, and thanks for participating. (Next time
there will be a prize offered to the first person to guess correctly.) But it wasn’t a dragonfly or a hybrid-dragonfly, or a wasp. And now for the rest of the story:

It is a Bolivian mosquito on a wall outdoors. So, yes, there are mosquitoes here, and yes, some are big. In fact I’m pretty sure they are bigger than the mosquitoes that I’ve dealt with before. What do you think? How big are mosquitoes where you live? Don’t be too scared, though. The picture above is a macro and does not have a point of reference to indicate the actual size. So I took pictures of another mosquito with the tip of my pointer finger beside it.

Do you notice how long its legs are? (Yes, it’s dead.) I point out its legs because although “mosquito” is a Spanish word, that’s not what they call them here. In Spanish, “Mosquito” basically means ‘little fly’ and can generally refer to other small insects that bite. The word that is common in Bolivia is “zancudo”, which literally means ‘long-legged’. That fits, right? But did you notice that the mosquitoes in the first pictures and the next two look very different? Well here’s a news flash: Did you realize that there are some 3,500 species of mosquitoes on our planet? They are of the family Culicidae, but are then broken into subfamilies, tribes, genus and subgenus. We could spend a lifetime studying just one subgenus of mosquitoes. Hmmm... I just might do that someday.

You’ll have to admit that they’re pretty ugly when viewed close-up, but normally you don’t really see them this close. Just at the moment, thanks to macro lens technology. Brace yourself; here’s another one.

 
Like I said, the situation isn’t too bad here. However we do have screens on the windows, and that is a rarity here as very few people do. Also (and I love this part), we bought an electric fly swatter. I had seen these before, but never truly appreciated them until we came to Bolivia. It takes only one mosquito flying around your head and ear when you’re trying to sleep to make your night miserable.

But toss two AA batteries in this baby, swing it at the blood-sucker and ‘Bye-bye Mr. Mosquito.’ Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a violent person. But until my question is answered: “Why the mosquito?”, they simply are not allowed in our house. Or near the house, for that matter.

We moved into a different apartment a few months ago during the rainy season. Unfortunately there were a lot of receptacles outside our door where mosquitoes had been breeding. (That, by the way, is bad. We’re going to resolve that situation before the next rainy season begins.) So one evening I stepped outside with my trusty electric swatter and waged war with the colony that had developed. I felt like a superhero battling the forces of evil, very tiny forces, but definitely evil. Every few minutes I had to clear the swatter of mosquito carcasses because they were shorting out my weapon’s electrical circuit. There was no way to count them, but as an estimate I would say that during the 15 minutes that the battle raged, I probably fatally wounded one or two hundred mosquito soldiers.
 
Part of me felt slightly guilty at the wholesale slaughter that had taken place. But then I remembered that the average lifespan of the mosquito is only about one day, so they were going to die the next day anyhow. Then I thought about it further: Since I kept them from making mosquito babies just before dying naturally, I essentially spared the world the burden of hundreds perhaps thousands of future mosquito orphans. And that cheered me up.

So what is your opinion? What useful purpose do mosquitoes serve in the ecosystem? Or, more to the point: “Why the mosquito?”

 (Léase en español / Read in Spanish)