Mosquito Identification & Malaria

hellesangel

We all know that only anopheline mosquitoes can carry Malaria but does anyone know how to tell these apart from any other sort? I'm just curious. A google search, I thought, would show a page with photographs of the different types of mossies, but no. Do they all look the same?

hellesangel

Here it is at the Natural History Museum.

They all look like all the mosquitoes I've ever seen. So is every mosquito in India an anopheles of one sort or another?

PS: Sorry for the dull topic, I'm stuck at home in Bangalore recovering from diarrhoea caught while travelling a week ago, watching the rain fall. Got to do something to keep busy.

dhans

But they bite in a different way.

Malaria mossies keep their bodies in one straight line whem they bite, non malaria ones (including dengue ones) keep their body bent.

This academic diffrence does not very much help if you want to prevent something. Just use deet, or mosquitocoils (the electric ones are perfect).

Happy travels,

Hans

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edwardseco

Dhans has got it. I agree, it is unlikely one would notice the mosquito seting up to bite instead of the pain or less afterwards..

PeakXV

The Flying Tiger (Aedes - I think) you can see coming a mile away - they fly sort of like a bumble bee and are pretty easy to swat.

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We shall not cease from exploration and at the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started ...and know the place for the first time.
T.S. Eliot

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