Mosquitoes have four life stages; egg, larva, pupa and adult. The first three stages require standing water for their development. The female mosquito lays her eggs either individually or in clusters, which is called an egg raft. This raft, which is about the size of a single grain of rice, can contain up to 400 mosquito eggs. Both the female and male mosquitoes feed on plant sugars. Only the female mosquito bites in order to obtain protein from blood for her developing eggs. Male mosquitoes do not seek a blood meal.

Click here to view a mosquito life cycle video.