Circadian Dynamics

Blood feeding in mosquitoes follows a species-specific circadian rhythm, which is mainly nocturnal.
Generally three main categories can be distinguished:

(1) nocturnal, if feeding occurs at night – many, probably most species belong to this group, e.g. some Aedes species and Mansonia africana;

(2) diurnal, if feeding occurs largely during daylight hours, e.g. Aedes apicoargenteus and Aedes longipalpis; and

(3) crepuscular, if feeding occurs largely during twilight hours, at dusk or at dawn, e.g. Aedes africanus and Anopheles gambiae (Goma, 1966).

Host Seeking Behaviour

The mosquito's selection of the host seems to be determined by four main factors: (1) availability of the host; (2) climatic conditions and resting habits of the mosquitoes concerned; (3) emanations of the host; and (4) visual stimuli (Goma, 1966).
Two main determinant complexes influence mosquito host location: endogenous determinants such as genetic make up, age, mating condition, gonotrophic status, nutritional status and circadian rhythm of the female mosquito; and exogenous determinants, defined by the host and the environment. The mosquito host-finding can be divided into successive phases: activation, oriented flight to the host, alighting on the host, probing, ingestion, withdrawal, and take-off (Mehlhorn, 2001).

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Host Spectrum

Mosquitoes obtain their bloodmeals from a very wide variety of hosts. These include warm-blooded animals as birds, cattle, pigs, numerous wild animals, and man; and cold-blooded animals such as frogs, lizards, snakes, insect nymphs and pupae. The choice of host varies greatly with species of mosquito and the availability. Many species have a marked predilection for one type of host which they select if reasonable available, taking other hosts only in the absence of their preferred food (Macdonald, 1957).Other mosquitoes have no particular preferences and will feed readily on a wide range of hosts.