mosquito

mosquito
A blood-sucking dipterous insect of the family Culicidae. Aedes, Anopheles, Culex, Mansonia, and Stegomyia are the genera containing most of the species involved in the transmission of protozoan and other disease-producing parasites. [Sp. dim. of mosca, fly, fr. L. musca, a fly]

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mos·qui·to mə-'skēt-(.)ō, -ə(-w) n, pl -toes also -tos any of numerous dipteran flies of the family Culicidae that have a rather narrow abdomen, usu. a long slender rigid proboscis, and narrow wings with a fringe of scales on the margin and usu. on each side of the wing veins, that have in the male broad feathery antennae and mouthparts not fitted for piercing and in the female slender antennae and a set of needlelike organs in the proboscis with which they puncture the skin of animals to suck the blood, that lay their eggs on the surface of stagnant water, that include many species which pass through several generations in the course of a year and hibernate as adults or winter in the egg state, and that include some species which are the only vectors of certain diseases see AEDES, ANOPHELES, CULEX

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n.
a small winged bloodsucking insect belonging to a large group - the Diptera (two-winged flies). Its mouthparts are formed into a long proboscis for piercing the skin and sucking blood. Female mosquitoes transmit the parasites responsible for several major infectious diseases, such as malaria. See Anopheles, Aëdes, Culex.

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mos·qui·to (məs-keґto) pl. mosquitoes [Sp. “little fly”] any of the gnatlike insects of the family Culicidae; many are bloodsucking and are vectors of human and animal diseases; others are venomous.

Medical dictionary. 2011.

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  • MOSQUITO — ou MISKI Indiens d’Amérique centrale vivant dans le nord est de l’actuel Nicaragua et, en moindre nombre, à la frontière du Honduras, les Mosquito furent découverts par Christophe Colomb en 1502, lors de son quatrième voyage; toutefois, la… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Mosquito — Mos*qui to (m[o^]s*k[=e]*t[ o]), n.; pl. {Mosquitoes} (m[o^]s*k[=e]*t[=o]z). [Sp. mosquito, fr. moscafly, L. musca. Cf. {Musket}.] (Zo[ o]l.) Any one of various species of gnats of the genus {Culex} and allied genera. The females have a proboscis …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Mosquito — (spanisch, „kleine Fliege“, von lateinisch musca, „Fliege“) steht für ein blutsaugendes Insekt, siehe Stechmücken De Havilland Mosquito, ein Flugzeugbaumuster Mosquito Motor, einen Zweitaktmotor The Mosquito, ein Geräuschsender zur Vertreibung… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • mosquito — CHÍ / s. n. limbă vorbită de indigenii din Honduras şi Nicaragua. (< fr. mosquito) Trimis de raduborza, 15.09.2007. Sursa: MDN …   Dicționar Român

  • mosquito — (n.) 1580s, from Sp. mosquito little gnat, dim. of mosca fly, from L. musca fly, from PIE root *mu gnat, fly, imitative of insect buzzing (Cf. Skt. maksa , Gk. myia, O.E. mycg, Modern English MIDGE (Cf. midge), O.C.S …   Etymology dictionary

  • mosquito — s. m. [Entomologia] Inseto díptero de que há várias espécies …   Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa

  • mosquito — has the plural form mosquitoes …   Modern English usage

  • mosquito — sustantivo masculino 1. (macho y hembra) Culex pipiens. Insecto delgado y pequeño de patas largas, cuyas hembras tienen un órgano con el que chupan la sangre de los mamíferos y producen una picadura molesta …   Diccionario Salamanca de la Lengua Española

  • mosquito — (Del dim. de mosco). 1. m. Insecto díptero, de tres a cuatro milímetros de largo, cuerpo cilíndrico de color pardusco, cabeza con dos antenas, dos palpos en forma de pluma y una trompa recta armada interiormente de un aguijón; pies largos y muy… …   Diccionario de la lengua española

  • mosquito — ► NOUN (pl. mosquitoes) ▪ a small slender fly, some kinds of which transmit parasitic diseases through the bite of the bloodsucking female. ORIGIN Spanish and Portuguese, little fly …   English terms dictionary

  • mosquito — [mə skēt′ō] n. pl. mosquitoes or mosquitos [Sp & Port, dim. of mosca < L musca, a fly: see MIDGE] any of a large family (Culicidae) of two winged dipteran insects, the females of which have skin piercing mouthparts used to extract blood from… …   English World dictionary

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