INTRODUCTION:

The life cycle of Mosquitoes are fascinating and notorious. Despite their diminutive size, these buzzing insects play a significant role in ecosystems around the globe. Understanding the life cycle of mosquitoes sheds light on their remarkable adaptability and the crucial role they play in various ecosystems.

when a female Anopheles mosquito ingests the blood of a person or animal with the malaria parasite in circulation, the asexual forms of the parasite are digested together with the red blood cells while the mature sexual cells (gametocytes) undergo further development. In the Stomach of the mosquito, the gametocytes develop into macrogamete and microgamete which are female and male gametes respectively after ex-flagellation. The macrogamete is fertilized by one microgamete to form a zygote (an ookinate). This penetrates the cell wall of the mosquito and lies between the epithelium and the basement membrane.

The oocyst nucleus divides several times with the first division being a reduction division to produce a number of sporoblasts. These divide further to produce thousands of haploid thread-like porozoites. when mature, the oocyst bursts releasing the sporozoites into the haemocoel of mosquitoes. some of these sporozoites penetrate the salivary gland of the mosquito and are injected with saliva into the blood when the mosquito bites man to suck blood.

Diagram of Plasmodium in Mosquitoes