Sabethes – The World’s Most Beautiful Mosquito

I can think of a few adjectives to describe mosquitoes, but ‘beautiful’ is definitely not one of them. However, there is one notable exception – Sabethes cyaneus, a tropical breed of mosquito that can certainly be called eye-catching.

Found in the tropical forests of central and South America, the Sabethes mosquito is an elusive breed famous for its iridescent blue color and feather-like paddles formed by elongated scales, located on the tibia of each middle leg. The two hind legs arching over the body of the mosquito as it is feeding are also impressive and help build the Sabethes’ majestic appearance. Marveling at its beauty is a privilege, as this breed is well-known for being extremely skittish and difficult to photograph well.

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Scientist Lets Thousands of Mosquitoes Bite His Arm in the Name of Science

An entomologist from the University of Melbourne lets thousands of mosquitoes bite his arm regularly in order to keep them fed for research on eradicating Dengue fever.

Dr Perran Stott-Ross has been involved in mosquito research at the University of Melbourne for many years now, trying to find effective ways of curbing the spread of the Dengue virus, passes between humans via mosquitoes. One of the most promising strategies has been infecting swarms of mosquitoes with Wolbachia, a bacteria that naturally blocks the transmission of dengue fever and is passed on over generations of mosquitoes. But in order to further this research, Dr. Stott-Ross has to monitor thousands of blood-sucking bugs, and as part of that monitoring he offers his own arm as an all-you-can-eat buffet…

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Russian Far East Region Experiences Particularly Bad “Mosquito Tornadoes”

Villages on the east coast of the Kamchatka peninsula, in the Russian Far-East are experiencing scenes that seem taken out of an Alfred Hitchkok movie. Only instead of birds invading their community, it’s billions of mosquitoes swirling into visible “tornadoes”.

Villages like Ust-Kamchatsk are used to being invaded by large number of mosquitoes every summer, it’s normal for this insects to swarm near bodies of water, but this year it’s much worse than usual. Because of an unusually hot summer, the number of mosquitoes is much larger, making them an even bigger nuisance than they usually are. Window and door nets do little to keep the pesky buzzers out of people’s homes, as they seem to get in through the smallest of cracks, and going outside means dealing with large swarms of mosquitoes that seem to reach the sky when seen from afar.

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China’s Mosquito-Free Village, an Unsolved Mystery

Surrounded by lush vegetation and dotted with ponds and pools of water, the Chinese village of Ding Wuling should be teeming with mosquitoes, especially during the summertime. However, the tiny bloodsuckers allegedly haven’t been seen here in almost a century.

Located in the hills of China’s Fujian province, 700 meters above sea level, the village of Ding Wuling is home to the hakka minority, a people with a very rich history and culture evidenced by the unique architecture of their stone houses. But in recent years, the culture and architecture of this picturesque village have been overshadowed by a mystery enhanced by national media – the absence of mosquitoes. Despite being virtually covered by a lush canopy and surrounded by vegetation, the village has reportedly been mosquito-free for several decades.

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Man Claims His Farts Can Kill Mosquitoes Six Meters Away

A Ugandan man whose farts can allegedly kill mosquitoes six meters away claims to have been offered deals by companies looking to turn his flatulence into commercial insect repellent.

Joe Rwamirama, a 48-year-old man from Kampala, in Uganda, says he eats ordinary food and that his farts smell no worse than anyone else’s, but to insects, like malaria-transmitting mosquitoes, the gas he passes is deadly. Joe’s insect-repelling farts are famous around town, and people know that whenever he is around, mosquitoes magically vanish. Some say that the man’s farts have evolved to fight mosquitoes.

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