Under optimal conditions, the egg of an
Aedes mosquito can hatch into a larva in less than a day. The larva then takes about four days to develop into a pupa, from which an adult mosquito will emerge after two days. Three days after the mosquito has bitten a person and taken in blood, it will lay eggs, and the cycle repeats.
Did you know?
- Only the female Aedes mosquito bites, as it needs the protein in blood for its eggs to develop.
- The mosquito becomes infective approximately seven days after it has bitten a person carrying the virus. This is the extrinsic incubation period, during which time the virus replicates in the mosquito and reaches the salivary glands.
- Peak biting is at dawn and dusk
- The average lifespan of an Aedes mosquito in nature is two weeks.
- The mosquito can lay eggs about three times in its lifetime, and about 100 eggs are produced each time.
- The eggs can lie dormant in dry conditions for up to about nine months, after which they can hatch if exposed to favourable conditions, such as water and food.