Page 22 - The Miracle in the Mosquito

THE MIRACLE IN THE MOSQUITO

Antennae of the male mosquito.
These feelers give the male an ex-
traordinary ability to pick out the
sound of the female’s wing beat
from a thousand other sounds.

important factor influencing the males. The wing sounds of the fe-
males cause the receptor cells on the male antennae to vibrate and
send electrical signals to his brain. The wing-beat of the females is
faster than that of the males, and the vibrations produced by the
females’ wings incite the males to mate.
Let’s think about the sounds we can hear on a summer day
when there are plenty of mosquitoes around... traffic noise, people
talking, animal sounds, in short a multitude of sounds, some of
which are audible and some of which are inaudible to the human
ear, depending upon their frequencies. It should be quite difficult
for the male to pick out the sound of the female beating her wings
in the midst of this tumult of sounds. However, the sensitive
“ears” of the male are able to distinguish the sound of the female
out of all these sounds and he flies straight to the female to mate.
When a female flies into a crowd of mosquitoes and is noticed by
one of the males, she is held by special pincers located near the
male sexual organ and mating usually takes place in the air, but
sometimes on the ground. After mating, the male returns to the
flock and after a time he dies.
At this point the subject should be examined in more detail.

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