<dm:abstracts xmlns:dm="http://www.elsevier.com/xml/dm/dtd"><ce:abstract xmlns:ce="http://www.elsevier.com/xml/common/dtd" view="all" class="author" id="aep-abstract-id1"><ce:section-title>Publisher Summary</ce:section-title><ce:abstract-sec view="all" id="aep-abstract-sec-id1"><ce:simple-para id="fsabs012" view="all">Mosquitoes occur in practically every region of every continent in the world, except Antarctica. They develop in an extremely broad range of biotic communities: arctic tundra, boreal forests, high mountains, plains, deserts, tropical forests, salt marshes, and ocean tidal zones. The family <ce:italic>Culicidae</ce:italic> consists of two superfamilies that include all of the piercing/ sucking nematocerans, both predators and blood feeding biters. It consists of about 3200 recognized species. Three important species groups of mosquitoes worldwide are the <ce:italic>Anopheles gambiae</ce:italic> and <ce:italic>Culex pipiens</ce:italic> complexes and the <ce:italic>Aedes</ce:italic> subgenus <ce:italic>Stegomyia.</ce:italic> The eggs of most mosquitoes are elongate, ovoid, or spindle-shaped; others are spherical or rhomboid. Mosquito larvae<ce:italic>,</ce:italic> commonly known as wigglers or wrigglers<ce:italic>,</ce:italic> pass through four instars, which closely resemble one another, except for their size. The holometabolous life cycle of mosquitoes is completed in two different environments: one aquatic, the other terrestrial. Adult mosquitoes of both sexes of most species regularly feed on plant sugar throughout life, but only females feed on vertebrate blood. Host-finding behavior in mosquitoes involves the use of volatile chemicals to locate vertebrate hosts. Mosquitoes are the most important arthropods affecting human health. They act as vectors for the organisms that cause human diseases such as malaria, filariasis, encephalitis, yellow fever, and dengue. Personal protection is the most direct and simple approach to prevention.</ce:simple-para></ce:abstract-sec></ce:abstract></dm:abstracts>