malaria vector mosquito life cycle

Life Cycle
Normally embryonic development is completedwithin a few hours after egg laying, and the first instar larvae hatch. Fully developed larvae of Aedes remain in the egg shell until eggs are flooded, and can thereby be stored for a long period of time (depending on temperature and humidity up to 4.5 years). Larvae are aquatic, mainly occurring in fresh water, but some species also develop in salt water. The size of the habitat can be very small, e.g. tree holes. The total duration of the four larval instars varies greatly, even within one species, especially depending on temperature and food supply. In the tropics it can be completed within one week, in temperate regions many months and even longer if a larval diapause exists.
Some species are even frost-tolerant while others live at 50_C. The larvae feed on debris or plankton (filter feeders) or predate other larvae. The development of the also aquatic pupa is also temperature- dependent, lasting between 1 day or up to three weeks. If the pupae are disturbed, they actively swim downwards with their paddles at the end of the abdomen. The longevity of the adults strongly varies according to the climatic region, on average one to two weeks in the tropics and four to five weeks in temperate regions, but up to several months for females of hibernating or aestivating species. Thereby, the whole developmental cycle (egg to egg) can last about 7 days or up to several months in diapausing species.
Distribution Mosquitoes are found almost worldwide in almost all types of ecological zones, being absent only from Antarctica and some islands.