Eco Hvar

Mosquitoes: Friends and Foes?

Published in Better Ways

Setting the record straight with a balanced view about mosquitoes and their place in the natural chain!

Mosqutio Mosqutio Photo: Sondre Dahle (reproduced with permission)

About mosquitoes

There are over 3,500 species of mosquito, with more being found in great numbers all the time round the world. Mosquitoes, like flies, belong to the order named Diptera, because they have two wings. They belong to the family Culicidae and are classified in two main mosquitoes as pollinatorsgroups, Culicines and Anophelines.

Mosquitoes develop from eggs into worm-like larvae, which transform into pupae with a hardened outer skin, emerging in the end as fully formed male and female mosquitoes. Not long after emerging, once they have developed enough strength to fly adequately, the mosquitoes mate, after which the males die. The females feed up before laying their eggs, either on blood or nectar or sap, depending on the species. The eggs are laid in fresh, brackish or salt water, whether clean or polluted. Any standing water can be home to mosquito eggs, whether a natural pool, water butt or water collected in old car tyres or ruts in ditches, to name just a few. Culex mosquitoes lay their eggs in compact clumps, while the Anopheles group lays its eggs singly. Eggs can take just a few days or up to several months to hatch. The larvae which develop from the eggs mostly breathe at the surface of the water; some feed near the surface, while others find food deeper down. The larva transforms into a pupa, still living in the water, but no longer feeding. The adult mosquito comes out of the pupa and into the air after two to seven days, depending on circumstances. The whole life cycle takes between two and four weeks.

What are mosquitoes good for?

Mosquitoes suffer from a bad press, but they are not all bad!

- mosquito larvae in freshwater habitats help to purify the water by eating detritus: they have tiny brushes in their mouths which beat to create currents bringing in food particles, which are then transferred into their bodies

- some mosquito larvae feed on other insects

- mosquito larvae are food for dragonfly and damselfly larvae (nymphs), which live in their watery habitats for between two and six years, during which time they can consume enormous amounts of mosquito larvae as well as other small insects

- mosquito larvae are a food source for freshwater fish such as trout, perch, mosquitofish (gambusia affinis and gambusia holbrooki) and guppies (poecilia reticulata)

- killifish are small fish which eat developing mosquitoes in the egg, larva and pupa stages: when their numbers are highest, mosquito populations are greatly reduced. There are different types of killifish, which can live in fresh, brackish and salt water.

- adult mosquitoes are food for other species, notably bats, dragonflies, damselflies and insectivorous birds such as bee-eaters, all of whom have a voracious appetite for mosquitoes

- mosquitoes have a role in pollination: they feed on nectar (not just blood) and so can transfer pollen from plant to plant, as has been described in Norwegian researches; the North American Blunt Leaved Bog Orchid (Platanthera obtusata) provides a specific example

- the diverse roles and activities of mosquitoes, including night-time pollination, are being extensively researched, especially at the Smithsonian Institute in North America

Mosquitoes as pests

Mosquitoes are generally disliked and even hated by humans, because they bite. Mosquito bites can cause reactions ranging from mild irritation to severe allergic discomfort and, in some cases, disease. It is estimated that only about 3% of mosquito species carry zoonotic diseases (i.e. diseases which are dangerous for humans), but because of these, mosquitoes as a whole are targeted for annihilation in many countries, including Croatia.

In the HZJZ Yearbook for 2020 (in Croatian), where the figures for infectious diseases are given in item 5 'Zarazne bolesti u Hrvatskoj', malaria cases are given as 5 (imported); dengue fever cases: 3 (imported); West Nile fever: 0; Zika virus: 0. So the incidence of mosquito-borne diseases in Croatia is negligible, despite the rise in mosquito numbers reported in the initial monitoring, and the presence of potential disease carriers noted over the years.

Mosquito species as potential disease carriers which have been identified in Croatia according to factsheets issued by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

Aedes albopictus (Asian tiger mosquito): can carry dengue fever, chikungunya virus, dirofiariasis. This mosquito has been monitored in Croatia since 2016 (link in Croatian).

Aedes japonicus (East Asian bush or rock pool mosquito): possibly could become a transmitter of diseases such as West Nile fever, but is not considered a definite vector for disease transmission. Monitoring in 2016 and 2017 revealed that it was spreading in Croatian territory.

Anopheles atroparvus: can transmit malaria; possibly associated with West Nile fever. This species has been identified in Croatia.

Anopheles labranchiae: can transmit malaria. This species has been identified in Croatia.

Anopheles plumbeus: can transmit malaria. This species has been identified in Croatia.

Anopheles sacharovi: can transmit malaria. This species has been identified in Croatia.

Culex pipiens: can transmit West Nile fever and Usulu virus; possibly could transmit various other viruses. This species has been identified in Croatia.

Self-protection against mosquitoes

Note: the suggestions given here are based on the wide variety of personal experiences, including our own, which people have shared over the years. Always make sure that you do not use any substances, whether natural or chemical, in any way which can cause incidental harm to yourself, others, animals or the natural environment. Bear in mind that some essential oils are toxic to pets. If in doubt, seek professional advice. We accept no responsibility for misuse of the information we are sharing.

Personal protection

- Many foods create smells in our bodies which mosquitoes apparently don’t like, including garlic, onions, vinegar, chili peppers, lentils, beans and tomatoes, so eating them may help to repel mosquitoes.

- Many people find that taking a vitamin B supplement reduces the effects of mosquito bites, and indeed may make one less prone to get bitten.

- Avoid or at least limit alcohol, as drinking alcohol causes our bodies to release more carbon dioxide than normal, which attracts mosquitoes.

- Mosquitoes are attracted to lactic acid, which is produced when you sweat, and even from eating salty food: bathe or shower frequently if you are prone to sweating.

- Wear light-coloured clothing: mosquitoes are apparently attracted to darker colours.

- Using a fan may help to keep mosquitoes away from you.

- Natural repellent sprays which may help to protect your skin can be made from various essential oils individually by adding a few drops of the chosen substance to water in a spray bottle. Some essential oils can be mixed together for more potency: you can find numerous examples of homemade sprays on the internet and in herbal books. Always heed precautionary advice. In particular test a small area of your skin for allergy before applying any new concoction more generally on your body. Do not apply sunscreen before or after spraying your skin with an essential oil solution.

- Suitable scents which mosquitoes hate include tea tree oil, peppermint oil, mint oil, lavender oil, neem oil, citronella oil, tulsi (holy basil, ocimum sanctum) oil, lemon eucalyptus oil, cedarwood oil, lemon grass oil, castor oil, and cinnamon oil among others.

Around the home

- Use mosquito screens over windows, also nets around beds if possible.

- Do not leave lights on inside your home in the evening with the windows and doors open.

- Cloves and lemon: slice some lemons in half, insert cloves into each half and spread them around your home.

- Essential oil sprays can be applied round your home as well as to your skin.

- A garlic spray made by crushing some garlic cloves and boiling them in water, when cooled, can be applied around the home.

- A mixture of apple cider vinegar and witch hazel in equal quantities can be an effective anti-mosquito spray round the home.

- Candles scented with essential oils such as citronella can deter mosquitoes.

Outdoors

- Many birds feed on mosquitoes and other insects, so attracting them into your garden or on to your balcony can help control mosquito numbers.

- Never leave standing water in any kind of container (eg pots, old tyres), as these are ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Spreading coffee grounds in puddles or stagnant water kills the mosquito eggs.

- Some plants repel mosquitoes, including basil, mint, feverfew, rue (ruta graveolens and ruta chalepensis), citronella and catnip, so they are good to plant in the garden or in pots around the outside of your home. (Note: some of these plants are skin irritants and can cause allergic reactions: They can also be very harmful if ingested by people or animals, so take care to keep them out of reach of very young children or puppies!)

- If you use an outdoor barbecue in the summer, burning some sprigs of rosemary or sage on it will help repel the mosquitoes.

Killing mosquitoes

In Croatia, measures to control mosquitoes were introduced several years ago. The Insect Control Programme has descended into a system of mass extermination of insects of all kinds using poisons which are potentially dangerous not only to the insects but to animals and humans. The result has been disastrous collateral damage. Mosquitoes have flourished while their natural predators have been decimated.

Extermination programmes using chemical pesticides don't work!

Many people use chemical insecticides in the home, without realising the potential harmful effects they might have on human health and the environment. You can check on the possible ill-effects of the active ingredients in many chemical insecticide products using our reference list ‘Pesticides and their Adverse Effects’.

A 'mozzie-swiper racket'. Photo Vivian Grisogono, courtesy of Nada Kozulić

We do not recommend killing insects, especially not with poisons. However, if you feel you have to, natural alternatives to chemical insecticides include garlic, camphor, pyrethrum and apple cider vinegar. and electronic mosquito-zappers. A very effective, simple way to put a stop to mosquitoes buzzing irritatingly around you is to use a special 'mozzie-swiping racket' which kills on contact with its steel mesh construction - and does not require any special tennis skills to do its job!

The 'mozzie-swiper' metal mesh 'strings. Photo Vivian Grisogono, courtesy of Nada Kozulić

Information compiled by Nada Kozulić, Nicholas Haas and Vivian Grisogono, 2022.

NOTE: Many thanks to Sondre Dahle, senior engineer at the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research for permission to use his mosquito photograph. You can read about his researches in this interview.

More in this category: « Go Hvar Go - ORGANIC Eco-friendly accommodation on Hvar! »
back to top
You are here: Home forum items Better Ways Mosquitoes: Friends and Foes?

Eco Environment News feeds

  • ‘Magic beneath the surface’: pioneering geothermal plant launched in Cornwall

    A new mini power station and lithium extraction facility near Redruth are set to bolster green energy and create jobs

    Just outside the perimeter fence stand the hulking remains of grand stone engine houses, a testament to Cornwall’s proud tin and copper mining history.

    But inside is a shiny new mini power station and lithium extraction plant that is once again accessing rich underground resources in the far south-west of Britain.

    Continue reading...

  • Riding the wave: can surf tourism save Peru’s ancient reed-boat fishing culture?

    As fish stocks dwindle, surf tourism may offer a lifeline to traditional caballitos de totora fishers, whose vessels are thought to be among the first ever used to ride waves

    Just before dawn, in a scene that has repeated itself over thousands of years on the north coast of Peru, fishers drag boats made of bound reeds to the water’s edge and, kneeling on them, use paddles shaped from split bamboo to row out into the Pacific Ocean to catch their breakfast. A few hours later, these surfer fishers return with netfuls of their catch, riding waves on the final stretch back to the shore. From the main beach in Huanchaco – a seaside town near the city of Trujillo – the fish are taken to sell at the market or to beachfront restaurants preparing meals for tourists.

    The four-metre-long reed vessels – known as caballitos detotorain Spanish, or “little reed horses” – are placed upright on their ends by the promenade on El Mogote beach so that the seawater drains away and they are ready to be used the next morning.

    Continue reading...

  • Tropical plants flowering months earlier or later because of climate crisis – study

    Changes threaten ecosystems as flowering falls out of sync with fruit-eating, seed-dispersing animals and pollinators

    Tropical flowers are blooming months earlier or later than they used to because of climate breakdown, with potentially “cascading impacts across ecosystems”, according to a study of 8,000 plants dating back 200 years.

    Researchers looked at flowers from a range of countries, including Brazil, Ecuador, Ghana and Thailand, home to the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth, but also the most understudied.

    Continue reading...

  • ‘A gift that falls from the sky’: why farmers are using Etna’s ash as fertiliser

    Falling volcanic ash has for years been viewed as a nuisance. But a Sicilian project has discovered its agricultural potential and wants to spread the word

    In the Sicilian town of Giarre overlooking Mount Etna, Andrea Passanisi, a tropical and citrus fruits producer, uses an unusual fertiliser on his 100-hectare (247-acre) stretch of land: volcano ash.

    Like hundreds of farmers and citizens of rural towns perched on the slopes of Europe’s highest and most active volcano, the 41-year-old’s family has had to deal with the nuisance of falling volcanic ash for generations. But it is only in recent years that the quantity of ash has become so excessive that it required an alternative approach.

    Continue reading...

  • Country diary: A tale of two oak trees | Paul Evans

    The Marches, Shropshire: Our ancestors were captivated by how browsing by elk and bison affected tree growth. Now I am too by the human version – coppicing

    On the lane that runs below Old Oswestry hillfort, an old oak draws me up a rise with a gate-leaning view across the Shropshire plain. Under the dark, kinked boughs of this English oak, Quercus robur, through a clearing sky, the Wrekin floats above mist on the far horizon. And floaty seems to capture the mood of this world, lifted from the weight of interminable rain – its air damp and vague, hazy around the earthworks of the hillfort that’s echoed uncannily by its neighbouring iron-age settlement on the Wrekin far away; weirdly mysterious hidden histories of fields and woods are wrapped in the leaf buds overhead.

    Around this oak tree is a world that is as familiar as skin and, to use a phrase that is already overused these days, “uncharted territory”. Next to this tree, poised above the steep holloway bank above the lane, is a coppiced oak. It’s the same species and may be the same age or even older, but it has six trunks only half the size of its neighbour. These coppice stools, where the central trunk was cut down long ago, are places of wonder. This one has the decaying remains of a trunk cut centuries ago with dendrothelmata – water-filled cavities, a rare habitat now.

    Continue reading...

  • Can degrowth save the climate? – podcast

    Since the 1960s, global GDP has been rapidly rising and living standards have reached record highs. But something else has been rocketing up too – carbon emissions. For years, scientists and economists have been asking: is it possible to grow without heating and polluting the Earth? And as the climate becomes more unstable, the issue is only becoming more urgent. Madeleine Finlay hears from two economists arguing for a change in how we measure a country’s success. Nick Stern is professor of economics and government at the London School of Economics and an advocate of green growth, an approach to growth that prioritises green industry. Jason Hickel is a political economist and professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona who advocates degrowth, shrinking parts of the economy that do not advance our social and ecological goals.

    Catch up with all the pieces in the Beyond Growth series

    Support the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod

    Continue reading...

  • Fly-tipping across England reaches record high

    Fines for illegal dumping decreased over past year with only 0.2% of incidents resulting in court action

    Fly-tipping incidents across England have reached the highest level since current records began, with most offences continuing to involve household waste.

    In 2024-25, 1.26m fly-tipping incidents were recorded by local authorities, an increase of 9% on the 1.15m reported in the year before, according to data released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) on Wednesday.

    Continue reading...

  • A deafening nuclear fusion reactor: why you wouldn’t want to hear the sun

    Sunrise is a majestic spectacle – but we should be grateful for the miles of vacuum between us and the star

    Dawn on a still morning is a majestic spectacle, as sunlight spills silently across the landscape and the Earth gradually emerges from darkness. Sunrise has inspired countless pieces of music striving to express this soundless experience in audible form. But if we could actually hear the sun, it would be deafening.

    The sun is a giant nuclear fusion reactor, converting hydrogen into helium and releasing massive amounts of energy in the form of heat – and sound. Sound is essentially vibration and needs a medium to travel through.

    Continue reading...

  • ‘A devastating force’: how recent storms turned to tragedies across the western Mediterranean

    Atmospheric machine-gun has fired storm after deadly storm at the region this year, leaving a trail of widespread destruction

    For Andrés Sánchez Barea, in Spain, it was the fear that arose when water started to spurt from plug sockets. For Nelson Duarte, in Portugal, it was the helplessness that hit as violent winds smacked down trees and tore tiles from roofs. For Amal Essuide, in Morocco, it was the reality that dawned when a corpse was pulled onboard a boat in the flooded medina.

    Each moment of horror is a fragment of the destruction wrought by an atmospheric machine-gun that in recent weeks has fired storm after storm at the western Mediterranean. Scientists do not know if climate breakdown helped pull the trigger, but research suggests it loaded the chamber with bigger bullets.

    Continue reading...

  • Ancient stepwells brought back to life as India begins to run out of water

    Centuries-old wells restored to provide drinking water as parts of the country head towards “day zero” when no water will be available

    A loud cheer and sounds of clapping reverberated around Bansilalpet, a neighbourhood in Hyderabad, when the first trickle of clean water dribbled out of the ground. After an 18-month effort to clear out 3,000 tonnes of rubbish and restore the stone walls and adjacent area, the 17th-century Bansilalpet stepwell had become a source of clean drinking water for the first time in four decades.

    “It was such a joyous moment to see water collecting into the stepwell after clearing 40 years of garbage,” says Hajira Adeeb, a 45-year-old resident of Bansilalpet, who grew up seeing the well become transformed from the community’s water source to a dumping ground. “I visit almost every day. The area is clean and lit up in the evenings. I enjoy sitting there.”

    Continue reading...

Eco Health News feeds

Eco Nature News feeds

Copyright © 2026 Eco Hvar. All Rights Reserved. Developed by Orion Informatika.