Adult western malaria mosquito, Anopheles freeborni. (Jack Kelly Clark, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources/photo)
Skeeter quiz
How much do you really know about mosquitoes? Take our trivia quiz and see if you can draw on your knowledge of biology, history and medicine to earn the label of “supreme mosquito maven.”
Here is how to judge your success:
- If you score nine to 10, you must be an entomologist — or you ought to be.
- With six to eight correct, your friends call you "Skeeter."
- For those scoring three to five correct, you may become an unauthorized blood donor. Be sure to wear long-sleeved pants and shirts when you're outdoors.
- For those scoring fewer than three, mosquitoes love you. You think of them as “pets” instead of “pests.”
1. What's the UC Davis connection for Anopheles freeborni?
Incorrect: a.
Sorry, wrong answer.
Incorrect: b.
We know it stings, but try again.
Incorrect: c.
Buzz back for another try.
Correct: both b. and c.
Stanley Barron Freeborn (1891-1960) was a UC Davis chancellor and entomologist. Freeborn Hall bears his name. After attaining world recognition as an authority on malariology, in 1958-59 he served as the first chancellor of UC Davis when it first transitioned into a comprehensive university from its former agricultural college status.
2. How long have mosquitoes existed?
Incorrect: a.
Sorry, wrong answer.
Incorrect: b.
We know it stings, but try again.
Correct: c.
At least 210 million years, during the Jurassic Period. The Jurassic Period began about 210 million years ago and lasted for 70 million years of the Mesozoic Era. Insects that are descendants of today's mosquitoes fed on dinosaurs.
Incorrect: d.
Incorrect. Buzz back for another try.
3. Which mosquitoes are found on all continents except Antarctica?
Correct: a.
The Culex pipiens complex, the common household mosquito, is found in every corner of the world except in Antarctica.
Incorrect: b.
We know it stings, but try again.
Incorrect: c.
Incorrect. Buzz back for another try.
Incorrect: d.
Put on some bug juice and pick another answer.
4. How long can the average mosquito live?
Incorrect: a.
Sorry, wrong answer.
Correct: b.
About one month, average. Some live longer; some live a few weeks.
Incorrect: c.
Incorrect. Buzz back for another try.
Incorrect: d.
Put on some bug juice and pick another answer.
5. What was the name of the man who was the first to see malaria parasites in blood of an infected person?
Incorrect: a.
Sorry, wrong answer.
Incorrect: b.
We know it stings, but try again.
Correct: c.
French army doctor Charles Laveran was first to see malaria parasites in the blood of an infected person. This occurred on Nov. 6, 1880, in a French Foreign Legion outpost in Constantine, Algeria.
Incorrect: d.
Put on some bug juice and pick another answer.
6. Which physician connected mosquitoes to malaria?
Incorrect: a.
Sorry, wrong answer.
Incorrect: b.
We know it stings, but try again.
Incorrect: c.
Incorrect. Buzz back for another try.
Correct: d.
Ronald Ross discovered malarial parasites in mosquitoes in 1897. Born in India, Ross was a British physician and entomologist who identified the links between mosquitoes and malaria on Aug. 20, 1897, later referred to as “Mosquito Day.” For this discovery he won the Nobel Prize.
7. Who first described the four distinct stages in a mosquito's life cycle: egg, larva, pupa and adult?
Incorrect: a.
Sorry, wrong answer.
Incorrect: b.
We know it stings, but try again.
Correct: c.
In 300 B.C., Aristotle referred to mosquitoes as “empis” in his Historia Animalium, where he documented their life cycle and metamorphic abilities.
Incorrect: d.
Put on some bug juice and pick another answer.
8. What country was using quinine-based medicine in the 1600s?
Incorrect: a.
Sorry, wrong answer.
Incorrect: b.
We know it stings, but try again.
Incorrect: c.
Incorrect. Buzz back for another try.
Correct: d.
Peru began using quinine-based medicine in the 1600s. The Quechuan Indians used the quinine-containing bark of the cinchona tree to alleviate shivering, and it was later found to be effective in controlling malaria (symptoms of the disease include aches, chills and fever).
9. What important person died of malaria in 323 B. C.?
Incorrect: a.
Sorry, wrong answer.
Correct: b.
Alexander the Great. However, many French and German-born popes died of malaria in the 11th and 12th centuries.
Incorrect: c.
Incorrect. Buzz back for another try.
Incorrect: d.
Put on some bug juice and pick another answer.
10. In California, there's at least one genus active every month of the year. Which one is active in the winter?
Incorrect: a.
Sorry, wrong answer.
Incorrect: b.
We know it stings, but try again.
Correct: c.
Culiseta inornata is often referred to as the “winter mosquito” and seldom breeds in the summer.
Incorrect: d.
Put on some bug juice and pick another answer.
Sources:
- Gregory Lanzaro, director of the UC Davis Mosquito Research Program and of the UC Davis Center for Vectorborne Diseases
- Anthony Cornel, director of the UC Mosquito Research Laboratory at Kearney Agricultural Center, Parlier and associate professor of entomology at UC Davis
- Mosquito: A Natural History of Our Most Persistent and Deadly Foe, by Andrew Spielman, Sc.D., and Michael D'Antonio. 2001. Hyperion, New York. Spielman, a senior investigator in tropical diseases at Harvard, is one of the world's foremost authorities on mosquitoes and the infections they transmit.
- An Introduction to the Study of Insects, Donald J. Borror and Dwight M. DeLong, 1971. Holt, Rinehart and Wilson, Inc.
- Mosquito and Vector Control Association of California, Sacramento.