The disease-carrying mosquito (Anopheles quadrimaculatus) is indirectly blamed for approximately one million human deaths each year. The majority of species are found in the tropics but the greatest concentration is in the Arctic tundra where clouds of newly hatched insects can block out the sunlight. As the spring snow melts thousands of square km are flooded, providing perfect mosquito breeding ground.
Only the female mosquito bites. She needs protein to develop her eggs and makes life a misery for man and beast in her hunt for protein-rich blood. Inserting her proboscis and injecting an anticoagulant, she will suck out three or four times her original weight in blood. She is not immune from biting herself. Midges lie in wait and sometimes rob the engorged mosquito of her bounty. Rafts of eggs are laid on still water and usually lie dormant until temperatures rise in the spring. Both the eggs and larvae can survive the winter frozen in ice.
