General features

Mosquitoes belong to the family of “Culicidae”, order Diptera (Insects).
This family is divided into five subfamilies. Only two of them are reasons of public health interest, as we can find both of them in our cities: Anophelinae and Culicinae.
Adult mosquitoes’ size goes from a few millimetres to more than a centimetre. Their body is composed of head, chest and abdomen. On their head there are two antennae covered in hair, which are longer and more numerous in male specimens.
They have piercing-sucking mouthparts. They also have two pairs of wings: only one of them is working, while the other one is littler and it is used as counterbalance. They have six legs.

It’s always quite bothering when we get in contact with mosquitoes (check How to protect yourself from mosquitoes). Even if you don’t get stung, mosquitoes’ buzz is particularly annoying, especially at night. If you get stung, and you’re quite sensitive, you could incur extended skin reactions. Moreover, if mosquitoes are disease carriers, it could be even worse: we could get malaria, yellow fever or heartworm. These are only some of the diseases spread all over the world which might be transmitted by mosquitoes.