Aedes Aegypti
Aedes aegypti, more commonly known as the yellow fever mosquito, is a significant insect belonging to the Culicidae Family (Domain: Eukarya, Kingdom: Animalia, Phylum: Arthropoda, Subphylum: Hexapoda, Class: Insecta, Order: Diptera). Aedes aegypti is easily identified by its distinctive black and white banded legs and lyre-shaped thoracic markings.
The Aedes aegypti has a life cycle including four stages: eggs, larvae, pupae, and adults. Females lay eggs, that are capable of resisting extreme dryness and can enter a dormant state, near standing water, which hatch into aquatic larvae within days. The larvae develop through four development stages before pupating and emerging as adults in 7 to 10 days. Adult females are daytime feeders with a strong preference for human blood, a behavior that makes them efficient vectors for diseases such as dengue, Zika, and yellow fever (WHO 2022; Gubler 2011).