PUPA OF MOSQUITOES

PUPA

          It is interesting to know that pupa of mosquitoes is the step of it's lifecycle. As seen in it's lateral aspect, the mosquito pupa is comma shaped. The head and thorax are merged into cephalothorax, with abdomen curving around underneath. The pupa is commonly called Tumbler due to it's swimming action, it can actively swim by flipping its abdomen. As with the larva the pupa of most species must come to the surface frequently to breathe, which they do through a pair of cephalothoraxes. However, pupae do not feed during this stage; typically they pass their time hanging from the surface of the water by their respiratory trumpets. If alarmed, say by a passing shadow, they nimbly swim downwards by flipping their abdomens in much the same way as the larvae do. If undistributed, they soon float up again.
           After few days or longer, depending on the temperature and other circumstances, the dorsal surface of it's cephalothorax splits, and the adult mosquito emerges. The pupa is less active than the larva because it does not feed, whereas the larva feeds constantly.