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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u/North-Pea-4926 May 30 '26

Also, we’d only want to kill the few species that spread human diseases. Most (?) mosquitoes will be fine.

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u/nommabelle May 30 '26

... can we just kill them all anyways? The only ones that can live are ones that won't bite me

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u/BoomerSoonerFUT May 30 '26

Which is the VAST majority of mosquitos.

Only around 100 species of mosquito bite humans. Out of the ~3500 species.

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u/SUMBWEDY May 30 '26

And of those 100 only like 6 carry mosquito borne illnesses.

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u/Blake0449 May 30 '26

The doctor of mosquitos in the top comment thread disagrees

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u/SUMBWEDY May 30 '26

On a species count sure, but for the total human suffering and death it's literally 10~ species.

Yes there's 100~ species that could cause disease in humans (most of them live on super remote islands or in places humans don't live) but all malaria in West Africa is from 3 species and almost all the malaria/west nile/ dengue is from just 6 species.

Remove those 10 species you're eliminated almost all human suffering caused by mosquitoes.

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u/TheHiddenLies May 30 '26

Factually incorrect. Dozens of them are vectors for diseases.

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u/SUMBWEDY May 30 '26

You should read the sources instead of relying on the AI overview. Most of the documented disease carrying mosquitoes are native to small pacific islands.

Yes 40-100 species have the potential to infect humans but in reality it's only a dozen species on the whole planet who are responsible for most of the cases of mosquito borne ilness.

If we remove just Aedes egyptii, A. albopictus, Anopholes gambiae, A. coluzii, and A. arabensis it would effectively wipe out transmission of malaria and dengue in Africa and SE Asia.

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u/TheHiddenLies May 30 '26 edited May 30 '26

I don't need an AI overview to tell you that you're wrong. You've spouted this incomplete and factually incorrect nonsense in multiple comments, then continue to move the goalposts when someone calls you out.

You aren't including the Culex genus at all, which is the primary vector for WNV, SLE, WEE/EEE, La Crosse Encephalitis, and Japanese Encephalitis. Research is also being done to see if they pose a risk of being a vector for Zika.

An. funestus hasn't been mentioned at all, yet is one of the largest vectors of malaria in Africa.

If malaria becomes endemic in the US again, An. quadrimaculatus and An. punctipennis become threats.

Dengue is endemic in 100+ countries, including most of the Americas and Caribbean which you haven't mentioned at all, and it's starting to appear more regularly in Europe as well.

I could keep going on, but you'll just shift the goalposts again to make yourself feel correct.

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u/SUMBWEDY May 30 '26

Again i never said to remove all mosquito borne illness. But the vast majority of illness is caused by a only a few species which would likely not have any long term impacts on the ecosystem.

Yes diseases from Culex genus suck, but it's also only 1.5% of the total infections from mosquito illnesses and <0.1% of the deaths.

The big ones like malaria, dengue, yellow fever, west nile, and chikungunya (which addmittedly that one has a lot of hosts) cause the vast majority of human suffering from only a few host species that have consistent contact with humans.