We all battle mosquitoes in the summertime. Maybe you try to get rid of them all together with mosquito foggers, traps, zappers, or other mosquito-killing devices. Or you might try to hide from them by using one of the many types of mosquito repellents.
While most mosquitoes are active during the time around sunrise and sunset, there’s one mosquito that doesn’t follow those rules: the Asian tiger mosquito.
Distinguishing Features
Also known as Aedes albopictus or the black and white mosquito, the Asian tiger mosquito is black with white lines all across its legs and body. That makes it easy for us to identify it, which doesn’t help all that much because these striped mosquitoes also are very quick.
The mosquito is usually from 2–10 mm in length with a long, segmented body, a pair of wings, 6 legs, feather-like antennae, and a proboscis.
InsectWorld/Shutterstock.com
Characteristics
The most important characteristic of the Asian tiger mosquito is that it can carry more than one mosquito-borne disease.
The most common diseases carried by Asian tiger mosquitoes are the West Nile virus, dengue fever, Chikungunya fever, and even encephalitis.
These Asian tiger mosquitoes are as active during the day as they are at sunrise and sunset, which is when the other mosquitoes are usually most active. This makes them even more dangerous because they can strike us and our pets at any time of the day.
It also doesn’t help that the bites of Asian tiger mosquitoes cause more irritation than most mosquito species, leaving very itchy, red, raised bumps that many people are allergic to.
Location
The Asian tiger mosquito is native to Asia, hence its name. However, the Asian tiger mosquito has spread all over Asia, Europe, North America, and South America.
They favor the warmer regions of these continents where they’re usually active all year round.
Asian Tiger Mosquito Control
Because Asian tiger mosquitoes are so-called “container breeders,” they aren’t very particular about their breeding grounds. They can lay their eggs in any place where there is standing water.
Most of the time, they prefer smaller spaces, for example, old tires, holes in trees, and other places where water can collect. This means that once a female Asian tiger mosquito has fed on human or animal blood, she can go off to any small pocket of collected water and lay her eggs to allow the lifecycle to continue. Thus, new Asian tiger mosquitoes will hatch and either simply annoy us or spread their diseases even further.
So, to protect yourself from these mosquitoes, you need to start by eliminating all standing water. These are places that the mosquitoes can and will use to lay eggs. If you can’t get rid of all standing water, you can also think about buying mosquito dunks.
As we mentioned before, mosquito foggers and other devices will help you kill all mosquitoes. They can even help repel them afterward.
And mosquito repellents are a great way to protect yourself from mosquito bites since the best way to keep yourself safe from mosquito-borne diseases is to not get bitten in the first place.