Page 21 - The Miracle in the Mosquito

hortly after the building of an electricity generation
plant in Canada in the 1920s, all its generators broke
down. This was caused by hundreds of thousands of
S mosquitoes congesting the engines of the generators. So
what was it that attracted the mosquitoes to the generators? A
short time after the generators were cleaned, the same thing hap-
pened again and the problem was solved by calling in a mosquito
expert.
The mosquitoes invading the generators were all males. The
reason was that they thought that there were females in the ma-
chines ready to mate with them. They had confused the whirring
sounds made by the generators with the buzzing of females. When
the speed of the generators was adjusted, the mosquitoes were no
longer confused by the sound.
This interesting event draws our attention to the special sys-
tem that enables mosquitoes to mate. Male mosquitoes recognise
females by the sounds made by their wings, and thanks to this
they find the females and mate with them.

The incomparable hearing capacity of the mosquito
Mosquitoes mate on the wing. However, until the males
reach maturity, that is to say during the first 24 hours of their short
lives, they are not able to mate, for at this stage their antennae
have not yet dried out. The deaf males cannot hear the sound of
the females’ wings, that is to say the mating call.
Hearing is very advanced in mosquitoes. On the pair of
small, hair-covered antennae on a male's head, there is an organ
composed of numerous sensory cells. This system, which is
known as the “Johnston's organ,” receives the vibrations of sound
waves and differentiates between them. These hairy feelers can
only perceive sound waves when they are in an upright position.
The sound produced by the wings of the female is the most

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