Mosquito on the Fly
Animals that have an external skeleton (instead of an internal spine), a body made of segments, and jointed limbs -- including the likes of insects, spiders, centipedes, and crabs -- are known as arthropods (Gk. arthro : joint, pod : limb). Mosquitoes are arthropods. And there are 3,500 known species of mosquito. The mosquito acts as vector for a number of organisms -- protozoa, fly-eggs, worms, and viruses -- infectious to humans. Of the viruses carried by arthropods, these are collectively known as arboviruses (i.e. from " ar thropod- bo rne viruses"). This classification as "arbovirus" helps define perhaps the number one human predator -- the virus-bearing mosquito. These highly pathogenic viruses are carried by only a handful of mosquito species. Culex pipiens [Image: Wikimedia Commons] There is considerable space-time variability to the...