with mosquitoes, it’s only the females that bite, through the slender, hollow, tubelike extension from the mouth, called a proboscis. In some species, the female needs the nutrients in blood to produce eggs, and in others the blood stimulates production of more eggs. When she bites, the mosquito injects saliva into the tiny wound; the saliva contains an anticoagulant that keeps the blood from clogging up her proboscis. The itchy red bump on the skin left after the bite is the result of a histamine compound fighting off the invading protein. It’s the saliva that contains the virus or parasite
...more
