Summer is coming – and so are the mosquitoes. At the moment, an aggressive species is already on the move, the common house mosquito is breeding. “The season is just really getting started,” says an expert.
Mosquitoes are particularly active in Germany at the moment. This applies, for example, to the mosquito species that only develop with one generation per year, such as the majority of forest and meadow mosquitoes.
Compared to house mosquitoes, they are slightly larger and sometimes more aggressive. The common house mosquito is also building its first population – and this year two weeks earlier than usual, said Doreen Werner from the Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) in Müncheberg of the German Press Agency.
It has been warm in the past few weeks – a favorable circumstance for the development of the population. Currently, the mosquitoes only need a week from the time the bloodsucking females lay their eggs until the next generation hatches. “The season is only just beginning,” says Werner.
Is there a risk of a particularly mosquito-ridden summer? “I can’t look into the crystal ball,” Werner said. Because it is so dependent on the weather and temperature, it is difficult to predict how it will develop over longer periods of time.
“Mosquitoes like it moist and warm, and if one of these components breaks down, then it’s harder for the mosquitoes to reproduce,” the biologist explained. When there is a drought, the insects cannot find breeding grounds in which to lay their eggs. “Then they fly around pregnant for weeks.” If it rains again and does not get warmer, the development time for the population to build up will be longer.
