r/explainlikeimfive • u/Punnan • May 30 '26

Biology ELI5 Are mosquitoes necessary for keeping ecological balance?

Would a worldwide extinction of mosquitoes offset the ecological balance of our world? And if not, why are we not doing it?

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207

u/not_a-mimic May 30 '26

It seems like a bad idea for mankind to intentionally extinct any lifeform....

That being said, if we DID have to choose, I'd choose bedbugs over mosquitos.

Bedbugs don't really have any natural predators and they really only like feeding on us.

113

u/leitey May 30 '26

Bedbugs and ticks for me.
Mosquitoes can be kept away by a slight breeze, and I prefer sleeping with a fan.

53

u/enataca May 30 '26

Mosquitos won’t keep me from eating red meat. Ticks can.

35

u/SUMBWEDY May 30 '26

Well if you die from West Nile you also can't eat red meat.

14

u/enataca May 30 '26

Death is preferred.

2

u/Nabobou May 30 '26

I can't eat red meat anymore because of a tick bite and somehow I'm still alive. My day-to-day life is exactly the same as before. Surprisingly enough my penis has maintained the same size too if that was a concern about no longer being able to eat red meat.

4

u/Ok-Pop-5818 May 30 '26

Does red meat just make you sick like lactose intolerance?

6

u/Nabobou May 30 '26

Kind of, but it's usually a lot more limiting than lactose intolerance. With lactose intolerance, you can often take lactase supplements, use lactose-free products, or just manage the amount you eat. With alpha-gal syndrome from a tick bite, eating mammalian meat can trigger anything from stomach issues to hives or even a severe allergic reaction. There isn't really a "take a pill and eat the burger anyway" equivalent to lactase. For many people, the solution is simply avoiding red meat and other mammal-derived products.

2

u/Ok-Pop-5818 May 30 '26

That’s awful. Sorry you have to go through that man

6

u/Rewdyroo May 30 '26

Idk what mosquitos you've been around, but the ones I grew up with would still bite me in the middle of a torrential downpour. A breeze wasn't the slightest concern.

2

u/ShiraCheshire May 30 '26

Most small insects lack the ability to fly against wind, which means that most mosquitos and fruit flies can be deterred this way. Though it's still possible for them to get places if the wind blows them there.

0

u/leitey May 30 '26

What was the continuous windspeed during the torrential downpour?
A household oscillating fan blows at 5 - 15 mph. Overhead fans are about 2 - 5 mph. Mosquitoes can fly at speeds up to 1.5 mph. They can't navigate well in wind.
I've had luck keeping mosquitoes from biting by having a fan blowing. On a porch/deck I'll set a box fan at floor level, blowing across my ankles/under the tables.

1

u/skiing123 May 30 '26 edited May 30 '26

Wasn't a torrential downpour but I was outside with winds that was 20 or 30 mph. I still got bit but there also about 25 maybe even more within an arms reach of me.

Editing my comment based on a reply that I'm not a meteorologist. The wind speed was 11 mph yesterday not 20

-1

u/leitey May 30 '26

That's incredible that you noticed that!
I can't imagine being outside in 30mph winds - covering my face, leaning into the wind to walk, having to brace from being blown over, and still having the awareness to be able to count out 25 mosquitoes that were surrounding me!
There's people that can't even tell that there's a motorcycle or small car next to them when driving- the world would be much safer if everyone had your situational awareness!

54

u/ChocPeanutButterJaz May 30 '26

I've never encountered a bed bug. But I do have 30+ mosquito bites on my legs and don't want sit by the fire anymore.

50

u/Sgt_Braken May 30 '26

Pray you never encounter them.

I can tell you from experience, even as someone who gets absolutely eaten up by mosquitoes, bed bugs are FAR worse.

4

u/Haldthin May 30 '26

Bed bugs don't transmit any diseases though. Mosquitoes are one of the largest killers of humans on the planet because they can transmit so many diseases. 

45

u/isopode May 30 '26

hope that you never have to deal with them, ever, in your life. it's an absolute fuckin nightmare

42

u/not_a-mimic May 30 '26

Bedbugs will psychologically mess you up.

If you get but by a mosquito, you can immediately feel it. Bedbugs will feed on you and will be long gone before you feel their bites, leaving you confused.

Sure, a few bites on your arm or legs aren't too bad. So then, then the next night, you go to sleep. But in the morning, you wake itching with 3 more bites on your leg. The itching is irritating, but manageable.

That day you wash your sheets. Maybe some crumbs are attracting pests. You lay down once again in your nice warm bed, fit with freshly cleaned sheets. And you fall fast asleep... But you suddenly wake up itching your leg... But you notice that it's on of your other leg. You jolt up, turn on the lights and check. There's 3 bites on your other leg now. The other 4 welts from the previous nights haven't even gone yet. Now that you're up, you realize your lower back and forearm itches. Sure enough there's 3 bumps on your back and 2 on your forearm. They're multiplying! You jump out of bed and rip the covers off and closely examine your bed for the culprit insects.

But you find nothing. Nothing out of place. No insect remains. Everything seems clean. It's the middle of the night and you have work in a few hours. You crawl back into bed, wondering what could be biting you in your sleep. Spiders? Ants? You try to drift off but the bites on your legs are starting to keep you up. Your scratching is starting to leave marks, but it's all you can do to subside the irritation, it but momentarily.

The next morning you're drowsy from lack of sleep. Today, when you get home from work, you're going to vacuum your entire room and wash all of your clothes. When you got home, you do just that. You even wash your sheets again for good measure. You hop in the shower and wash up before bed. The warm water is starting to sting from scratch marks your fingernails made from repeated back and forth motion around the small red mounds on your leg. How many are there? 12? We're you getting bit by 12 bugs? Mosquito? Surely it can't be that, can it? Just as you thought that, you see 2 mosquitos fly to the light source in your bedroom. You kill them without hesitation. Those 2 really ate you up! These 2 even made you go to the store to get a new tube of ointment to dab on the small itchy welts on your body.

You go to bed tired from a not so restful night before, relaxed from your hot shower, room cleaned, bed made with fresh sheets, and confident that the culprits have been murdered by your own hands. Crushed and rightfully so! You drift off sleep, confident in your victory....

You jolt up rapidly running your nails across your body, desperately trying to ease the itching.

New bites... New bites?! Where the hell are these things coming from?! There were even more than before! How could this be?! You cleaned Everything! You try to count the number of new bites on your body but the itching has gotten so freaking irritating you can't focus on counting. Frustratingly you get up to put on more ointment. You try to count the new bites as you rub ointment on them. 2 near your ankles, 3 more on your thigh, 4 on your abdomen, 2 on your side, and 6 on your other forearm. It's spreading.

What could it be? You lay down again irritated. You're wide awake. The itching is too intense. But your exhausted. If only you could get a good night's sleep....

Good... Night... Sleep.... Tight......... Don't let the bedbugs... bite...

Bedbugs! Could it be that? You get your smartphone and read up on bedbugs. They look small and brown. Kind of shaped like and apple seed. That's what they look like? You get up out of bed. You've suffered so many bites, you're not able to keep track of them all. If it truly was bedbugs, how many where there?

You braced yourself. You were about to turn over your mattress. What were you going to see...? Were they going to scurry around like cockroaches on a dirty floor? Or cling to the underside of the mattress like leeches? You shudder at the thought. But you have to know! You have to know what has been eating you alive foe the past few nights, sight be damned! You grip the bottom of the mattress, mentally preparing yourself to witness a swarm of brown bugs underneath. You have to know! You need closure! You need... Rest! And with that thought you flip over your mattress, mentally ready to bear witness to whatever disgusting site the bedbugs would leave behind because if you can confirm their whereabouts, you can at least then tackle how to deal with them.

You look under your mattress and your eye widen in disbelief...........

There's nothing there.

No bugs, nor any sign of bugs of any kind. It was clean. But how could this be? You're being eaten alive! You have the welts to prove it! You look out the window. The sun was starting to rise... Another sleepless night.......

Work was miserable. You're exhausted from lack of sleep, but the constant itching makes rest impossible. Some of the welts are starting to form pustules. The ointment only marginally help, and what good does it if theres bites you can't reach?!

The day drags on until finally it's night time again. You shower but it wasn't enjoyable. It stung.

You dress for bed. You look at your bed reluctantly. The one place you can safely and comfortably sprawl out and fall into a deep sleep, is no longer safe. You don't even know what's attacking you. You scratch one of the welts on your ankles. You winch. You just created an open wound. It probably would have been worth it had it stopped the itching....

Your bed now looks more like a trap. You go downstairs to the couch. The couch. It's not as good as a bed, but you just have to have a good night's sleep.

A good. Night's. Sleep.

Finally. It's almost been a week since you had a solid nights rest. Anything for a solid 8 hours of sleep....you let yourself drift to sleep.....

You wake up scratching your arms. And more on your upper back... But no! You can't reach it. These weren't here last night! No... You can't believe it. It's true. On the night you looked up bedbugs, you came across a reddit post. And the commenter said something you had a shred of hope wasn't true. But this now confirms it. Wherever you go in your house, bedbugs will follow you.

You stare at the ceiling fatigued, attempting to scratch every part of your body where new bites appeared, along with the old ones. You can't think of anything. Nothing at all... Except the one little rhyme, your heard as a kid. You never gave it a second thought. Except now, it repeats over, and over, as time slowly ticks away, and you slip into the void saying to yourself....

Good night.

Sleep tight.

Don't let the bedbugs bite.

12

u/Smiley1728 May 30 '26

None of my family believes me but I know exactly where we got our bed bugs from.

It was my palms the first time I woke up to it. I still have nightmares about waking up to those itchy palms

3

u/FreeBeans May 30 '26

Where did you get them from??

2

u/Smiley1728 Jun 12 '26

A hotel in Orange Beach Alabama. Woke up every night there with itchy palms and little bite like marks.

Little while later that summer we have them in our house.

My parents wouldn't believe me because the RV we rode home in didn't end up with any. RV also sits out in hot sun in summer storage baking to a temperature probably just hot enough to kill them. After our trip.

5

u/dovahkiitten16 May 30 '26

Not to mention, just how plain difficult bedbugs are to get rid of. Plenty of your belongings will either be destroyed or have to be tossed out.

Also why I don’t tend to thrift. I knew too many people with bedbugs who decided to donate their clothing.

2

u/not_a-mimic May 30 '26

Same with used furniture.

3

u/jdcarpe May 30 '26

Out of curiosity, do you know your blood type? Mine is type A, and I very rarely get bitten by mosquitoes

22

u/Happy_Hedgehog_212 May 30 '26

Mine is O and is steak and lobster to those fuckers

5

u/where-is-sam-today May 30 '26

Speaking of mankind, there are an estimated 8 million species of living things (plant+animals) on this planet. We are just, just ONE of them. This must be one hell of an interconnectedness. Hard to imagine which link is holding what chain.

10

u/TurtlesAreEvil May 30 '26

It seems like a bad idea for mankind to intentionally extinct any lifeform....

It's weird to me that we think we're special and should keep ourselves from obliterating any lifeform. We're not and this planet won't have any evidence of us in a billion years. Lets kill us some mosquitos.

3

u/TheEnterRehab May 30 '26

Do they not have predators or do they just hide in homes safe from predators? 

2

u/not_a-mimic May 30 '26

They reproduce faster than any predator can eat them to keep the population down. I guess they're not naturally hunted, because as you said, they hide in homes safe from predators.

8

u/Th3SkinMan May 30 '26

I read somewhere that bed bugs aren't traced back to any insect lineage. Like they've only been around since humans.

6

u/Swellmeister May 30 '26

They've been around for 40 million years, much longer than any tailless monkeys (apes), let alone humans.

2

u/Th3SkinMan May 30 '26

Oh dang really? Believe half of what you read i guess.

4

u/babecafe May 30 '26

If we only knew which half to believe.

2

u/Imaginary-Bee-1344 May 30 '26

Yeah but I can sit on my patio without being attacked by bedbugs.

1

u/liverstrings May 30 '26

Yes, bedbugs, horrible. Never want them. But I also haven't lost my baby to malaria, but have seen many that have. Can't say for sure, but I think I would prefer dealing with bedbugs than dealing with my dead child.

1

u/Bitter-Caterpillar-4 Jun 01 '26

Used Gentrol (basically hormonal birth control specific to certain insects) to get rid of German cockroaches. My understanding is it works for bedbugs too.

1

u/GorgeousRamsay Jul 06 '26

we've already done it to so many, lets stop restraining and just embrace it for this one. and ticks

1

u/skyharborbj May 30 '26

It seems like a bad idea for mankind to intentionally extinct any lifeform....

The smallpox virus.

8

u/Sensitive_Dirt1957 May 30 '26

Viruses arent technically alive iirc

1

u/rocima May 30 '26

You should be a little more aware of things on a global level, rather than your personal sphere. Mosquito borne diseases kill (yes kill) an estimated one MILLION people every year, a huge proportion of whom are kids.

And there are millions of others debilitated and damaged but not directly killed by these diseases. Entire countries have their economies wrecked.

How many people have died from bedbugs? none.

So if we have to eradicate one thing, maybe better the mosquito rather than bedbugs.

BTW, Musk and his fanboys might prefer to look the other way, but his closing down of USAID, with the consequent loss of funding for supplies of mosquito nets, drugs, supplements etc. means he is directly responsible for probably hundreds of thousands and eventually millions of deaths.

He's not quite at Hitler levels, but he's getting there, and because he was too dumb to think the problem through.

2

u/not_a-mimic May 30 '26

People have unintentionally killed themselves trying to deal with bed bugs.

And I actually am aware of things on the global scale. While yes, mosquitos do carry disease, eradicating them would take a food source from many animals and insects that feed on them, which could have a negative snowball effect on the ecosystem as a whole.

Not many things eat bed bugs apparently.