Exact Answer: 3 Weeks To 6 Months
Summer is a season of beauty and pleasure, but it’s also a season of bothersome mosquitoes. Do you know how long a mosquito lives? Here you will read about the lifespan of mosquitoes.
Summary
There’s nothing quite like spending some time outside and then returning home to discover you’re instantly irritated from mosquito bites. We’re joking, of course!!!! It may seem inevitable that you’ll become the apple of a mosquito’s eye at some point, especially during the summer.
Even when you try just about every mosquito repellant on the market or recall what mosquitoes despise, it seems like these pesky flies just won’t leave you alone. You’re fortunate because these men come and go—the only problem is that it’s an endless cycle. Continue reading to learn more about mosquitos.
How Long Does A Mosquito Live?
| Type | LIfe-span |
| Male Mosquito | 6 Months |
| Female Mosquito | 2 Weeks To 1 Month |
If you’re wondering how long mosquitos live, you’ve probably just had a mosquito bite. In reality, some people are more likely to attract mosquitoes than others.
To add insult to injury, there’s more bad news: After a female mosquito bites you or another human for blood, she lays her eggs in a flood-prone location or stagnant water. This initiates the life cycle of new mosquitos.
The development of a mosquito from an egg to an adult might take anywhere from four days to four weeks. Mosquito eggs hatch into larvae, sometimes known as “wrigglers,” in water. The wriggler lives and feeds in the water before developing into a pupa or “tumbler,” the third stage of the life cycle. The tumbler is a creature that lives in water but does not eat.
The duration of a mosquito’s life is determined by how long it takes for an adult mosquito to emerge from its pupal case, which is determined by water temperature, food, and the kind of mosquito in question. It’ll be ready to fly and maybe cause chaos at your next cookout, picnic, or morning jog once it’s done.
The longevity of these insects varies greatly by species, according to the American Mosquito Control Association, with the majority of mature female mosquitoes living only two to three weeks. Other varieties, on the other hand, have been found to survive for up to six months in areas like garages and attics.
Why Do Mosquitoes Live For That Long?
Some mosquitos only exist in the summer and perish in the cold, but their eggs endure in the winter and hatch in the spring. Others hibernate as adults during the winter, allowing them to live for months as full-grown mosquitoes, even into the following year. Mosquitoes that pass the winter as eggs hatch into adults in the spring after only two weeks.
Adult males may survive on nectar and similar things since they do not require the nutrition that females do. Males only live for approximately a week, just long enough to swarm and mate with females.
Females have a longer lifespan, up to a month or two, however, many die sooner, being eaten by predators, being blown around by storms, or being slapped while trying to acquire a drink of blood to help develop their eggs.
Birds, dragonflies, and spiders consume them in nature, and humans, of course, try to get rid of them in a variety of methods other than killing them directly.
Conclusion
The life of a mosquito is difficult. The threat of being eaten, swatted, or poisoned by insecticides is always present. With so many risks, it’s natural to conclude that mosquitos have a short lifespan.
However, the winged insects have survived history as one of the most lethal species on the planet due to adaptations and sheer numbers. A mosquito’s ideal life span may have shocked you. When a mosquito emerges from its cocoon, whether male or female, it has two primary goals in life: to eat and reproduce.
Adult mosquitoes are on the search and looking for mates within the first few days after emerging from their larval and pupal stages, which takes around 14 days. All of these processes have a significant impact on the longevity of mosquitos.
References
- https://www.mdpi.com/683314
- https://academic.oup.com/trstmh/article-abstract/105/5/247/1884066
- https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.en.40.010195.002303
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