Editing Mosquito (section)

=== Eggs ===

The eggs of most mosquitoes are laid in stagnant water, which may be a pond, a marsh, a temporary puddle, a water-filled hole in a tree, or the water-trapping leaf axils of a [[Bromeliaceae|bromeliad]]. Some lay near the water's edge while others attach their eggs to aquatic plants. A few, like ''[[Opifex fuscus]]'', can breed in salt-marshes.<ref name="Wigglesworth 1933"/> ''[[Wyeomyia smithii]]'' breeds in the pitchers of [[pitcher plant]]s, its larvae feeding on decaying insects that have drowned there.<ref>Crans, Wayne J.; [http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~insects/sp27.htm ''Wyeomyia smithii'' (Coquillett)] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130605173233/http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~insects/sp27.htm |date=2013-06-05 }}. Rutgers University, Center for Vector Biology.</ref>

[[Oviposition]], egg-laying, varies between species. ''[[Anopheles]]'' females fly over the water, touching down or [[dapping]] to place eggs on the surface one at a time; their eggs are roughly cigar-shaped and have floats down their sides. A female can lay 100–200 eggs in her lifetime.<ref name="CDC Anopheles">{{cite web |title=Anopheles Mosquitoes |publisher=[[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]] |url=https://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/biology/mosquitoes/ |access-date=December 13, 2023 |date=July 16, 2020 |archive-date=18 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120518210447/http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/biology/mosquitoes/ |url-status=live }}</ref> ''Aedes'' females drop their eggs singly, on damp mud or other surfaces near water; their eggs hatch only when they are flooded.<ref name="Huang Walker Vulule Miller 2006"/> Females in genera such as ''Culex'', ''[[Culiseta]]'', and ''[[Uranotaenia]]'' lay their eggs in floating rafts.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gullan |first1=P. J. |last2=Cranston |first2=P. S. |title=The Insects: An Outline of Entomology |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell]] |location=Oxford |year=2014 |edition=5th |isbn=978-1-118-84616-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lF5hBAAAQBAJ |page=280 |access-date=14 December 2023 |archive-date=11 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231211165406/https://books.google.com/books?id=lF5hBAAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Spielman, D'Antonio">{{cite book |last1=Spielman |first1=Andrew |last2=D'Antonio |first2=M. |chapter=Part One: Magnificent Enemy |title=Mosquito: a natural history of our most persistent and deadly foe |publisher=[[Hyperion (publisher)|Hyperion]] |location=New York |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-7868-6781-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/mosquitonaturalh00spie }}</ref> ''[[Mansonia (fly)|Mansonia]]'' females in contrast lay their eggs in arrays, attached usually to the under-surfaces of waterlily pads.<ref name="Amorim Sa Rojas Santos Neto 2022 pp. 631–637">{{cite journal |last1=Amorim |first1=J. A. |last2=Sa |first2=I. L. R. |last3=Rojas |first3=M. V. R. |last4=Santos Neto |first4=N. F. |last5=Galardo |first5=A. K. R. |last6=Carvalho |first6=D. P. |last7=Ribeiro |first7=K. A. N. |last8=Sallum |first8=M. A. M. |display-authors=5 |title=Aquatic Macrophytes Hosting Immature Mansonia (Mansonia) Blanchard, 1901 (Diptera, Culicidae) in Porto Velho, Rondonia State, Brazil |journal=Journal of Medical Entomology |volume=59 |issue=2 |date=2022-03-16 |doi=10.1093/jme/tjab223 |pages=631–637|pmid=35043213 }}</ref>

Clutches of eggs of most mosquito species hatch simultaneously, but ''Aedes'' eggs in diapause hatch irregularly over an extended period.<ref name="Huang Walker Vulule Miller 2006">{{cite journal |last1=Huang |first1=Juan |last2=Walker |first2=Edward D |last3=Vulule |first3=John |last4=Miller |first4=James R. |title=Daily temperature profiles in and around Western Kenyan larval habitats of Anopheles gambiae as related to egg mortality |journal=Malaria Journal |volume=5 |issue=1 |date=2006 |page=87 |pmid=17038186 |pmc=1617108 |doi=10.1186/1475-2875-5-87 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed">
File:Anopheles_egg_2_(cropped).jpg|''[[Anopheles]]'' eggs with side floats
File:Mosquito egg SEM.jpg|[[Scanning electron microscope|Electron micrograph]] of a culicine egg
File:Gelege1 (cropped).jpg|''Culex'' egg raft
</gallery>