Description

Mosquitoes are true flies, having only one pair of wings. (Their name comes from the Spanish for “little fly.”) The mosquito, unlike other true flies, has scales along the wing veins and on other parts of its body, and has 14 or 15 segments to each of its two antennae.

The average mosquito is about one-fifth of an inch (5 mm) long, with a slightly shorter spread of its narrow wings. Its body, like that of other insects, consists of head, thorax, and abdomen. The round head has a long proboscis (tubular mouth part) and antennae. In the male, long hairs on the antennae give these appendages a feathery appearance. Hairs on the antennae of the female are shorter. The mosquito's slender legs are attached to the triangular thorax. The abdomen is long and narrow.