Pollination by Mosquitoes

Did you know there are around 3,500 mosquito species? A significant number of these need nothing to do with gnawing people or some other creature. Indeed, even in species that bite, it is just the females that do as they need human blood to build up their eggs.

The major food of all grown-up mosquitoes is plant sugar and its related supplements, regularly as floral nectar. During the time spent searching for nectar, mosquitoes pollinate a considerable lot of the flowers they visit — this is one of the most normally disregarded ecological contributions of mosquitoes.

The association between mosquitoes and flowers is old and has likely impacted mosquito advancement. Genetic proof supports a rapid increment in mosquito variety corresponding with the presence of blooming plants. Mosquito scales have also been found in flower fossils from the mid-Cretaceous period.

Mosquitoes find blossoms by a variety of cues including scent and vision, and ongoing research has found that a portion of the smell constituents of specific flowers that mosquitoes feed on (and fertilize) is just like human smell! One explanation of this is that to mosquitoes, a few flowers may resemble people, potentially showing the developmental beginnings of why a few mosquitoes take blood.

Latest research

According to Daniel Peach and Regine Gries, Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Female mosquitoes exploit olfactory, CO2, visual, and heat signs to find vertebrate hosts. These nectar-searching mosquitoes were believed to be guided exclusively by floral scents.

Females of numerous mosquito species require the supplements acquired from a vertebrate blood feast for egg improvement. In any case, both male and female mosquitoes likewise devour plant sugars, basically as floral nectar that gives basic energy to flight and endurance. In this cycle, they help pollination as well. The most recent examination by Chloé Lahondère, Clément Vinauger from the Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, shows that Aedes spp. mosquitoes, including Aedes aegypti, are successful pollinators of the Platanthera obtusata orchid. Interesting, right?

So these unlikely pollinators really have other work than gnawing you and me. Or, if you think about it, plants have managed to tame the unruly mosquito to do their bidding! Nature and its marvels!

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Nature at its best is a great repository of knowledge and most of it is still a mystery to our minds. However, at Atrimed Plant Science, we have willed ourselves to research, understand the best-kept secrets of Nature and use that knowledge to the betterment of our health. We believe in thinking beyond, knowing beyond and using the best research capabilities to understand the science plants use to live, thrive, adapt and grow. In this blog, you would find details of some interesting plant facts, the science behind them, snippets of history, updates about science and many interesting secrets. Read, subscribe, share your comments with us. Thank you!

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