Skip to main content

Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus)

Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) is an animal species in Culicidae, has white bands on its legs and body, lives in forests and gardens, flies and eats during the day, an epidemiologically important vector for the transmission of many viral pathogens, including yellow fever, fever dengue, Chikungunya fever, some filarial nematodes and Zika.

Ae. Albopictus is less than 10 mm long from tip to tip with a striking white and black pattern. Males are about 20% smaller than females, but they are very similar morphologically, the maxillary palpa is longer than the trunk, the tarsus of the hind legs is more silvery in color.

Dlium Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus)


The trunk is dark, the upper surface of the tip segment of the palpai is covered with silvery scales and the labium does not have a bright stripe on the bottom. Compound eyes are separate from each other. The scales on the back of the chest segment are black along the white midline. On the sides of the chest, shoulder blades and abdomen have many spots covered with silvery white scales.

Silvery scales can also be found on the tarsus, especially on the hind legs which usually hang in the air. The bases of tarsomer I to IV have a ring of white scales. The first three tarsomeres on the front and middle limbs have white scaly rings, while the V tarsomeres on the hind limbs are completely white.



The femur of each leg is black with white scales at the ends of the knees. The femora of the middle limbs does not have a silver stripe at the base of the upper side, whereas the femora of the hind limbs has short white stripes at the base of the upper side. Tibiae are black at the base and do not have white scales.

Terga in segments II to VI of the abdomen have a dark color and silvery white markings that are almost triangular on the base that is not parallel to the silvery band on the ventral side of the abdomen. The triangular mark and the silvery band are parallel only to the abdominal segment VII. The transparent wings have white spots at the base of the ribs.

The female has an elongated trunk which it uses to collect blood to feed eggs. Its fast bite and agility allow it to avoid most of the attempts of people to pat. Males eat nectar and do not bite.

Females lay their eggs near stagnant or flowing water. Water less than 30mL is sufficient for larval development. It is more likely to lay eggs in water sources near flowers than in water sources without flowers. The flight distance is less than 200 m, so the breeding ground is most likely close to where these mosquitoes were found.

Females need blood food to develop eggs. They also continue to eat nectar and other sweet plant juices like males do. They search for blood using carbon dioxide and organic matter produced by the host, moisture and optical recognition. The Asian tiger mosquito bites in the forest during the day.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Class: Insecta
Subclass: Pterygota
Order: Diptera
Suborder: Nematocera
Infraorder: Culicomorpha
Superfamily: Culicoidea
Family: Culicidae
Subfamily: Culicinae
Tribe: Aedini
Genus: Aedes
Subgenus: Stegomyia
Species: Aedes albopictus

Comments

Popular

Indian rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia)

Sonokeling or Java palisandre or Indian rosewood ( Dalbergia latifolia ) is a species of plant in the Fabaceae, a large tree producing hardwood, medium weight and high quality, rounded leaves, thin and broad pods, highly adaptive, grows in dry and rocky landscapes with lots of sunlight. D. latifolia has medium to large size, cylindrical stems, up to 40 m high with a ring of up to 2 m, the bark is brownish gray and slightly cracked longitudinally. The crown is dense, dome-shaped and sheds leaves. The leaves are compound and pinnate oddly with 5-7 strands that have different sizes and appear alternately on the shaft. The leaves are round or elongated in width or heart, the upper surface is green and the surface is pale green. The flowers are small, 0.5-1 cm long and clustered in panicles. The pods are green to brown when ripe and are elongated lanceolate, pointed at the base and tip. The pods have 1-4 seeds which are soft and brownish. Indian rosewood grows at elevations below 600 m,

Bush sorrel (Hibiscus surattensis)

Bush sorrel ( Hibiscus surattensis ) is a plant species in Malvaceae, annual shrub, crawling on the surface or climbing, up to 3 meters long, thorny stems, green leaves, yellow trumpet flowers, grows wild in forests and canal edges, widely used for vegetables and treatment. H. surattensis has stems with spines and hairs, branching and reddish green. Petiole emerges from the stem with a straight edge to the side, up to 11 cm long, sturdy, thorny, hairy and reddish green. The leaves have a length of 10 cm, width of 10 cm, 3-5 lobed, each has a bone in the middle with several pinnate veins, sharp tip, sharp and jagged edges, wavy, stiff, green surface. Flowers up to 10 cm long, trumpet-shaped, yellow with a purple or brown or red center, solitary, axillary. Epicalyx has forked bracts, linear inner branches, spathulate outer branches. Stalks up to 6-7 cm. The seeds have a length of 3-3.5 mm and a width of 2.5 mm. Bush sorrels grow in pastures, marshes, abandoned fields and plantations,

African spiral flag (Costus lucanusianus)

African spiral flag or Costus afer ( Costus lucanusianus ) is a species of plant in the Costaceae, herbaceous or shrub, up to 2 meters high, cylindrical stem, upright with a spiral movement, green with reddish midrib stripes, grows on forest floors, river banks, roadsides and abandoned lands. C. lucanusianus has oval-shaped leaves, up to 30 cm long, up to 10 cm wide, pointed tip and base, a vein in the middle, dark green upper surface and pale green lower surface. Petioles are very short. The inflorescence is in a tuber at the end of the stem, cone-shaped and about 10 cm long. The flowers are funnel-shaped, the outside is white, the inside is red with a yellow spot. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Liliopsida Order: Zingiberales Family: Costaceae Genus: Costus Species: Costus lucanusianus