Welcome to You Ask Andy

Dickie Hastings, aged 12, of Kersey, Colo., for his question:

Do only female mosquitoes bite?

Both Mr, and Mrs. Mosquito live on juices. Mr. Mosquito sips his juices from flowers, fruit and plants. Mrs. Mosquito drinks blood. Neither of them could eat solid food even if they wanted. For they have no teeth. A mosquito bite is done with a sharp beak. Inside the beak is a very complicated tool kit.

Mrs. Mosquito has a tougher beak than her husband. His beak is too soft to pierce the skin of animals or people. So he lives on fruit and vegetable juices ‑ which is lucky for us. Mrs. Mosquito's beak can pierce our skin and the hides of some animals. She can bite a bird, a fish or the neck of a turtle. She even bites butterflies. If she chose, she too could live on fruit and vegetable juices. But she prefers a diet of rich, fresh blood.

She senses when she is near a living creature. First she hovers around to find a good place to land. Then is a good time to swat her. If you don't she will land on a stretch of bare skin. Now she is all ready to fix her dinner.

Her first job is to find a spot soft enough to stab. She explores the skin with two sensitive feelers at the sides of her beak. Next the tool kit comes into use. The skin of her beak is actually the tool kit bag. It is an overgrown section of lower lip. Inside the kit bag are two minute piercers, two little saws, one syringe and one syphon. The kit bag rolls back as the tools go into action.

Down go the two little piercers to stab the skin. The two little saws go to work to extend the hole. They dig for a tiny blood vessel near the surface of the skin. The bloodthirsty little female draws blood. But before she can drink it she has a problem.

The mosquito cannot drink blood that is clotted. And blood starts to clot as soon as it reaches the air, So she has a mixture of her own to prevent the blood from clotting. She uses her syringe to inject a small amount of this special brew into the wound. Now she is ready to dine. She draws up fresh, unclotted blood through her syphon.

When satisfied, she flies away. You don't notice the bite until later. Her work is so carefully done that you do not feel the, operation while it is going on. The sting is caused by the Injection she gave you. This recipe stopped the blood from clotting and suited Mrs, Mosquito. But later it causes the flesh to swell up and Itch ‑ which does not suit you. Don't scratch. Try dapping on a mixture of Glycerine and Ammonia. Next time try to swat her before she makes a landing. And be glad that Mr. Mosquito is a vegetarian.

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