New study reveals how mosquitoes respond differently to colors and time

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In a new study, researchers found that night- versus day-biting species of mosquitoes are behaviorally attracted and repelled by different colors of light at different times of day.

The University of California, Irvine School of Medicine-led team studied mosquito species that bite in the daytime (Aedes aegypti, aka the Yellow Fever mosquito) and those that bite at night (Anopheles coluzzi, a member of the Anopheles gambiae family, the major vector for malaria).  They found distinct responses to ultraviolet light and other colors of light between the two species. Researchers also found light preference is dependent on the mosquito’s sex and species, the time of day and the color of the light.

“Conventional wisdom has been that insects are non-specifically attracted to ultraviolet light, hence the widespread use of ultraviolet light “bug zappers” for insect control.   We find that day-biting mosquitoes are attracted to a wide range of light spectra during the daytime, whereas night-biting mosquitoes are strongly photophobic to short-wavelength light during the daytime,” said principal investigator Todd C. Holmes, PhD, a professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the UCI School of Medicine.  “Our results show that timing and light spectra are critical for species-specific light control of harmful mosquitoes.”

https://www.newswise.com/articles/new-study-reveals-how-day-and-night-biting-mosquitoes-respond-differently-to-colors-of-light-and-time-of-day

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FUN FACT:

 

They recently did a study of the top I wanna say 90 Mosquito Repellents on the Market (such as OFF!) and determined that all of them aside from one actually attract mosquitoes.