Yellow fever mosquito

The yellow fever mosquito is a tiny insect, only about four to seven millimetres long — smaller than a grain of rice. It is dark in colour, but if you look closely you can find pretty white markings on its legs and a curved pattern on its back shaped like a little harp. Scientists call that harp shape a lyre, and it helps them tell this mosquito apart from its cousins.

Like all mosquitoes, this one has a busy little life. The males spend their days sipping sweet nectar from flowers and juice from fruit. The females enjoy nectar too, but they also drink a small amount of blood. They need it to help their eggs grow strong, and afterwards they fly off to find the perfect place to lay them.

That perfect place is always near water. A female lays her eggs right beside small pools of still water, sometimes in a puddle, a pond, or even a bucket left out in the rain. When the eggs hatch, the wriggly young live in the water first, swimming and growing until they are ready to become flying adults.

This mosquito began life long ago in Africa, but today it lives in many warm and tropical parts of the world. It likes to stay close to people, in gardens and towns where there are shady spots and little puddles of water to use as a nursery.

Some mosquitoes can pass on illnesses through their bite, so scientists study this species carefully to learn how to keep people healthy. One of the simplest things anyone can do is tip out standing water, which gives the mosquitoes fewer puddles to use — a small, helpful step that keeps homes and gardens tidy.