The diagram illustrates the female mosquito’s life cycle, showing how they develop from eggs to fully-grown adult mosquitoes.
Overall, the process involves a number of stages and lasts for approximately six to eight weeks, beginning with the eggs being laid and ending with a female mosquito fully developing.
At the beginning of the process, the female mosquitoes lay their eggs on the surface of water. The eggs then remain there for roughly one week before hatching, giving rise to larvae and marking the beginning of the larval stage. This is a four-week-long stage, from the second week to the fifth week, and comprises four smaller phases, each of which lasts for a week. As it progresses through each small phase, the larvae grow larger before reaching maturity.
Subsequently, the larvae enter the pupal stage in the sixth week. This stage is characterised by the larvae being transformed into the pupae covered by a hard pupal shell. At the same time, the pupae undergo notable physical changes before breaking out of the cocoon to become fully grown female mosquitoes, putting an end to the pupal stage. In the final phase, the adult female mosquitoes can survive in the wild for up to two weeks, during which they lay eggs before completing their life cycle and dying.