Editing Mosquito (section)

=== Mouthparts ===

{{further|Insect mouthparts}}

Female mosquito mouthparts are highly adapted to piercing skin and sucking blood. Males only drink sugary fluids, and have less specialized mouthparts.<ref name="Wahid Sunahara Mogi 2003">{{cite journal |last1=Wahid |first1=Isra |last2=Sunahara |first2=Toshihiko |last3=Mogi |first3=Motoyoshi |title=Maxillae and Mandibles of Male Mosquitoes and Female Autogenous Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) |journal=Journal of Medical Entomology |volume=40 |issue=2 |date=2003-03-01 |doi=10.1603/0022-2585-40.2.150 |pages=150–158 |pmid=12693842 |s2cid=41524028 }}</ref>

Externally, the most obvious feeding structure of the mosquito is the proboscis, composed of the [[Labium (insect)|labium]], U-shaped in section like a [[rain gutter]], which sheaths a bundle (fascicle) of six piercing mouthparts or stylets. These are two [[Mandible (insect mouthpart)|mandibles]], two [[Galea (insects)|maxillae]], the [[Insect mouthparts#Hypopharynx|hypopharynx]], and the [[Labrum (arthropod mouthpart)|labrum]]. The labium bends back into a bow when the mosquito begins to bite, staying in contact with the skin and guiding the stylets downwards. The extremely sharp tips of the labrum and maxillae are moved backwards and forwards to saw their way into the skin, with just one thousandth of the force that would be needed to penetrate the skin with a needle, resulting in a painless insertion.<ref name="NPR mouthparts">{{cite web |last1=Quirós |first1=Gabriela |title=WATCH: Mosquitoes Use 6 Needles To Suck Your Blood |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/06/07/480653821/watch-mosquitoes-use-6-needles-to-suck-your-blood |publisher=NPR |access-date=13 December 2023 |date=June 7, 2016 |archive-date=3 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240103011402/https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/06/07/480653821/watch-mosquitoes-use-6-needles-to-suck-your-blood |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Choo Buss Tan Leal 2015">{{cite journal |last1=Choo |first1=Young-Moo |last2=Buss |first2=Garrison K. |last3=Tan |first3=Kaiming |last4=Leal |first4=Walter S. |title=Multitasking roles of mosquito labrum in oviposition and blood feeding |journal=Frontiers in Physiology |volume=6 |date=2015-10-29 |page=306 |pmid=26578978 |pmc=4625056 |doi=10.3389/fphys.2015.00306 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Zahran Sawires Hamza 2022">{{cite journal |last1=Zahran |first1=Nagwan |last2=Sawires |first2=Sameh |last3=Hamza |first3=Ali |title=Piercing and sucking mouth parts sensilla of irradiated mosquito, Culex pipiens (Diptera: Culicidae) with gamma radiation |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=12 |issue=1 |date=2022-10-25 |page=17833 |pmid=36284127 |pmc=9596698 |doi=10.1038/s41598-022-22348-0 |bibcode=2022NatSR..1217833Z }}</ref>

<gallery class=center mode=nolines heights=275 widths=350>
File:Evolution of mosquito mouthparts.svg|Evolution of mosquito mouthparts, with [[grasshopper]] mouthparts (shown both ''[[in situ]]'' and separately) representing a more primitive condition. All the mouthparts except the labium are stylets, formed into a fascicle or bundle.
File:Feeding mosquito, mouthparts labelled.svg|Mouthparts of a female mosquito while feeding on blood, showing the flexible  [[Labium (insect)|labium]] sheath supporting the piercing and sucking tube which penetrates the host's skin
</gallery>