MOSQUITOES AND FLIES
mouth opening. The saliva of the mosquito is injected into the wound from the tip of the hypopharynx, and the blood of the victim is sucked up to the mouth through the labro-hypopharyngeal tube. The labium (Lb) serves
Fig. 178. Mosquito larvae
A, Aëdes atropalpus. B, Anopheles punctipennis, the malaria mosquito larva
c, respiratory tube; d, terminal lobes; e, stellate groups of hairs that hold the larva at the surface of the water (fig. 181 A); f, spiracular area; PSp, spiracle
principally as a sheath for the other organs. It ends in two small lateral lobes, the labella, between which projects a weak, median tonguelike process. When the mosquito pierces its victim the base of the labium bends backward as the other bristlelike members of the group of mouth parts sink into the wound.
Mosquitoes of both sexes are said to feed on the sap of
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