How to identify male vs female mosquitoes

Hi, this is Stan from Terminix with another great question from one of our viewers. Today's question about mosquitoes is: what is the difference between male and female mosquitoes?

The first and most important difference is that only the female mosquitoes bite. In fact, male mosquitoes are incapable of biting. Male mosquitoes really only exist for two purposes:

The first is to serve as part of the food chain for other animals.

The second, as with all creatures, is to help mama mosquito make baby mosquitoes.

Finally, let's just briefly discuss a few other differences between male and female mosquitoes:

First, the male mosquito has very bushy antennae sticking out the front of their heads.

They use these bushy antennae in order to find females for mating purposes.

Second, in general, male mosquitoes are smaller than the females. This is true throughout the insect world.

And finally, male mosquitoes only live about a week or so, whereas a female mosquito may live up to six weeks.

So if you start getting mosquito bites on your property, it may indicate that mosquitoes are reproducing in your own backyard. If you think that you have a mosquito problem, please call us. And as always, thanks for watching.