Bug card No. 0070 of 1,500
Asian tiger mosquito
Aedes albopictus
Name means: “white-painted”
The Asian tiger mosquito is a small black mosquito with bright white stripes on its legs and body, like a tiny tiger. A white line runs down the middle of its back.
Lives in
First from Southeast Asia, now in many countries around the world
What does it eat?
Only the female drinks blood, which she needs to make her eggs. The male drinks nectar from flowers.
How fast is it?
A tortoise about 0.3 km/h (0.19 mph)
Asian tiger mosquito about 2 km/h (1.2 mph)
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
Its scientific name albopictus means white-painted.
2
It travelled around the world hidden in goods, like old car tyres with a bit of rainwater inside.
3
It lives close to people instead of in swamps.
4
It is very quick and nimble, so most people miss when they try to swat it.
5
The males have bushy feelers that can hear the whine of a female.
you asked
Most asked questions about Asian tiger mosquito
?How do you recognise a tiger mosquito?
It is black with white stripes on its legs and a single white line down the middle of its back.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Aedes albopictus
- Named by
- Skuse, 1894
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Culicidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Culicidae
- Lives on
- Asia, Europe, North America
- Also known as
- Tiger mosquito, Forest mosquito
Where the facts come from
- Aedes albopictus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by James Gathany, CDC. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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