Featured Insect

Featured Insect

The insect involved in the Panama Canal crisis is the Aedes aegypti, more commonly known as the yellow fever mosquito. This insect belongs to the order diptera and the family Culicidae. The yellow fever mosquito is a medium sized mosquito when compared to other members of its order. The mosquito averages to be around 4 to 7 millimeters as an adult. The female mosquitoes are larger than males and each gender has specific details that allow for them to be deciphered. For example, the female has short hairs compared to the male's long, fluffy antennae. They also have different mouth parts because the females are adapted to feed on blood, while the males primarily eat nectar (Zettel and Kaufman 2008). Both genders of this mosquito are a dark black or brown color with white details on their thorax and head (Zettel and Kaufman 2008). The life cycle of this insect begins after the female mosquito has eaten a complete blood meal. The amount of blood the female consumes can determine the number of eggs she can lay, the less blood, the less amount of offspring (Zettel and Kaufman 2008). The female will lay 100-200 eggs within a habitat of standing water. Eggs are laid on damp surfaces in areas likely to temporarily flood, such as tree holes and man-made containers (Zettel and Kaufman 2008). The female mosquito tends to spread out her eggs throughout the standing water. The eggs are small, oval and dark. They tend to measure one millimeter in size. In warm climates, such as the tropics, eggs may develop in as little as two days, whereas in cooler temperate climates, development can take up to a week (Zettel and Kaufman 2008). Once the eggs hatch, they produce a small larva that remains vertical in the water. The “tail” of the larvae is above the surface while the remainder of the larvae is underwater. The larvae make many quick, wiggly movements. They consume algae and other waterborne bacteria as they go through four instars. The males develop faster than the females, but by the time both genders reach the end of the final instar, they become Pupae. The pupae do not feed and take approximately two days to develop into adult yellow fever mosquitoes (Zettel and Kaufman 2008). The mosquitoes can live as long as two months.

Yellow fever mosquitoes thrive in warm, humid climates and are found near the equator in South America and Africa. The mosquitoes tend to live around standing water. The yellow fever mosquitoes diet consists of nectars and plant juices, as well as human and animal blood. The males do not consume blood and only eat nectar. The female mosquitoes are the only ones who consume blood. The consumption of blood is how the disease is transmitted (Yellow Fever 2019 Jan 16). The mosquitos consume blood from an individual who is affected by the disease and transfer it to another individual. This is how the spread of yellow fever occurred during the building of the Panama Canal.