Presented by Dr. Don Yee, Professor and Board Certified Entomologist in Medical Entomology.

In this presentation, Dr. Yee will explore the amazing diversity of mosquito phenotypes and their ecology to show the incredible diversity of mosquito body shapes and forms and discuss what this may mean for our understanding of their ecology and evolution.

Among the 3,700 species of mosquitoes, less than 10% are actually involved in pathogen transmission, with the other 90% having little contact with humans. From this emerges a staggering fact, most of our knowledge of mosquitoes comes from those few hundred species, and in reality, we base most of our ecological, physiological, genetic, and biological knowledge about them on just a small group of medically important species. Phenotype is the manifestation of the genotype, and we see this in mosquitoes in physical traits like size, color, and shape. We often view all mosquitoes as the same: small and dark in color. However, mosquitoes vary in size and come in all different colors and patterns. Although their role as vectors of pathogens that cause disease is emphasized, they also play critical roles in nature, acting as food sources of many animals, pollinators, and nutrient recyclers.

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