This 2005 photograph depicted an Armigeres subalbatus mosquito of the Nagasaki colony, as she was ingesting a blood meal after having lighted on a human finger. Note the pooling of the blood inside the mosquito’s abdomen as it filled its stomach. The blood was being suctioned through the insect’s proboscis, which is its straw-like mouth that is used to penetrate the host’s skin much like a syringe.
Created: 2005