No one likes the red itchy bumps caused by mosquito bites. People spend a lot of money on zappers, candles, and sprays to keep them away, but did you realize that mosquitoes are much more than just an annoyance? Mosquitoes are actually the deadliest animals on the planet. Over a million people around the world are killed by mosquito-borne diseases each year. In the US, we don’t have problems associated with malaria, yellow fever and other diseases, but even here, 1000 Americans die each year from complications of mosquito bites. Even though vector borne diseases from mosquitoes are not yet a threat to most of the United States, it is still important to be aware of their impact and avoid being bitten when possible.
Mosquitoes are in the taxonomic order diptera, which also includes flies, and means “two wings.” This is distinctive because this group of insects only flies with one set of wings, while the others are reduced to a different form of hind wings called halteres. During certain peak breeding months, with the exception of termites and ants, mosquitoes outnumber every other animal on Earth. In malarial zones, they are responsible for many deaths, and often people in these areas move inland away from the coast, away from these dangerous tiny pests. But despite the impact on humans, mosquitoes get very little attention, even though they kill 50,000 times more people than sharks. Mosquitoes are responsible for killing 725,000 people per year. Rarely are they acknowledged for anything other than their pesky bites, even though they leave marks far more deadly than an itch through their ecological roles as vectors.