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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Steve Dietrich who wrote (469826)	4/8/2009 2:33:33 PM
From: jlallen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1575146

Mosquito teeth and why stars move Q: How many teeth do mosquitoes have on the proboscis? (Molly, Senatobia, Mississippi) The tip of a mosquito’s snout, showing two of her four sets of serrated teeth. Magnification: x60. Dennis Kunkel , Dennis Kunkel Microscopy, Inc., used with permission A: Four sets. Mosquitoes have four knife-like tools of serrated teeth that surround a pair of fine tubes — one for dripping a pain suppressor and one for sucking blood. See figure for a good view of one knife tool and a glimpse of a second one. A common house mosquito (Culex sp.) stabs the skin with her sharp snout and saws in with her four knife tools to draw blood. She shoots in saliva laced with anesthetic (to escape notice) and an anticoagulant (to keep blood flowing). Then she sucks blood. In 90 seconds, she sucks enough blood to nourish 100 eggs or more — and is too heavy to fly. She makes a controlled descent to a close safe spot where she squeezes in on her abdomen. Water oozes out of the blood, filtered through the abdominal wall, and forms a large drop. Light again, she takes off. During her short adult life (two weeks to a month) she bites one to three times, says Larry Weber, naturalist and author of Spiders of the North Woods. As all my (male) editors point out, only female mosquitoes draw blood (for needed protein). The males feed on nectar and plant juices. Mosquito — designed by God to make us think better of flies.— Anonymous. Further Reading: Trivia Queen Enterprises: Let's slap at mosquitoes by J. Spencer Minnesota Department of Natural Resources: Minnesota's biting flies by Larry Weber usatoday.com