Writing Resources
The first stage are the eggs which are laid by female mosquitos in a moist place such as puddles or the inside of an old tire where condensation is found The eggs of Culex are laid by the female mosquitos in batches of 50 to 100 in tiny clumps that are around a quarter inch long and tend to float together on the surface of the water The eggs that are white in the beginning turn to a near black within a day Most of the times they hatch in one to three days however it usually depends on the temperature Once the eggs hatch the mosquito larvae comes out The larvae are the baby stage of mosquitos The larvae are aquatic creatures that feed on algae bacteria and other microorganisms in the water Most of their time is spent hanging upside down from the surface while sucking in oxygen from the breathing tubes that are located in their tails The New South Wales Department of Natural Resources in Australia describes them as hairy maggots with siphon covered on the lower half by a cocoon Since mosquitos are cold blooded they depend on external heat sources to warm their bodies due to which the temperature plays an important role in their development The mosquito larvae grow faster if the temperature is warmer It takes about a week for most of the larvae to develop as they shed their skin four times to become mosquito pupae The mosquito pupae do not feed at all They tend to swim around in the water The mosquito pupae have short curved bodies with a large head at one end and flippers for swimming at the other
