Editing Mosquito (section)

=== Host animals ===

Blood-sucking mosquitoes favour particular host species, though they are less selective when food is short. Different mosquito species favor [[amphibian]]s, [[reptile]]s including [[snake]]s, [[bird]]s, and [[mammal]]s. For example, ''[[Culiseta melanura]]'' sucks the blood of [[passerine]] birds, but as mosquito numbers rise they attack mammals including horses and humans, causing epidemics of [[Eastern equine encephalitis virus]] in North America.<ref name="Lehane2005">{{cite book |last=Lehane |first=M. J. |title=The Biology of Blood-Sucking in Insects |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZV5EKCEGHIoC&pg=PA151 |date=9 June 2005 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-83608-1 |page=151 |access-date=18 February 2016 |archive-date=28 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160528091322/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZV5EKCEGHIoC&pg=PA151 |url-status=live}}</ref> Loss of blood from many bites can add up to a large volume, occasionally causing the death of [[livestock]] as large as [[cattle]] and [[horse]]s.<ref name="LSUAgCenter">{{cite web |title=Hurricane Laura exacerbates mosquito problems with livestock |website=[[LSU AgCenter]] |date=2020-09-09 |url=http://www.lsuagcenter.com/profiles/rbogren/articles/page1599664054105 |access-date=2022-02-26 |archive-date=2022-02-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220226191729/https://www.lsuagcenter.com/profiles/rbogren/articles/page1599664054105 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Malaria]]-transmitting mosquitoes seek out [[caterpillar]]s and feed on their haemolymph,<ref name="George Blanford Thomas Baker 2014">{{cite journal |last1=George |first1=Justin |last2=Blanford |first2=Simon |last3=Thomas |first3=Matthew B. |last4=Baker |first4=Thomas C. |title=Malaria Mosquitoes Host-Locate and Feed upon Caterpillars |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=9 |issue=11 |date=2014-11-05 |pmid=25372720 |pmc=4220911 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0108894 |page=e108894 |bibcode=2014PLoSO...9j8894G |doi-access=free}}</ref> impeding their development.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Martel |first1=Véronique |last2=Schlyter |first2=Fredrik |last3=Ignell |first3=Rickard |last4=Hansson |first4=Bill S. |last5=Anderson |first5=Peter |title=Mosquito feeding affects larval behaviour and development in a moth |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=6 |issue=10 |pages=e25658 |year=2011 |pmid=21991329 |pmc=3185006 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0025658 |bibcode=2011PLoSO...625658M |doi-access=free }}</ref>

<gallery mode=packed heights=150>
File:Chironius scurrulus (Yasuni) (cropped) with mosquitoes.jpg|Feeding on a snake
File:Mosquitoes vs. Frog (14555480700) (cropped).jpg|Feeding on a frog
File:JJeffreyApapaneMosquito.jpg|Feeding on a bird
</gallery>