Page 29 - The Miracle in the Mosquito

Phases of Development

Managing to survive difficult times…
Mosquitoes lay their eggs in the summer months or in au-
tumn. The temperature of the place they find to lay their eggs is an
important factor in the development of the larvae. Development is
speeded up when a certain temperature is reached (minimum
10°C [50°F], maximum 30°C [86°F]), and if these limits are exceed-
ed, development slows down or the larvae die.
Although the larvae are vulnerable, the eggs are quite re-
silient to drought and cold. If the right conditions are not avail-
able, the eggs can wait for rain and rising temperatures without
cracking.
You have just read this sentence and if you are an observant
person, you must have noticed the mention of the fact that "the
eggs can wait without cracking.” Although their time has come to
hatch, the eggs can wait without cracking…
If the right conditions are not available, the eggs’ develop-
ment is halted. This is not a kind of death, but just a precaution
taken until conditions improve. This delayed action, which is usu-
ally seen at the egg stage, is referred to as “diapause.”
At times when there is not enough moisture and heat for the
eggs to grow, they stop developing and can keep for years without

spoiling. There is a kind of heat-moisture safety fuse in the eggs.
When the conditions are wrong, the fuse blows and the egg’s de-
velopment programme is put on hold.
Actually it is not quite right to call this “stopping the pro-
gramme,” because waiting for the right conditions is part of the
programme. (This little creature said to contain a programme is
approximately 1 mm [0.04 inch] in length—about the size of the
point of a pencil.)
Whatever source you look at on this subject, the result is the
same; it is agreed that the embryos act in accordance with a pro-
gramme. This is a development programme, which takes place in

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