Do mosquitoes and flies fly at the same height?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the flight heights of mosquitoes and flies, exploring various claims and sources regarding how high these insects can fly from the ground. Participants reference different studies, personal anecdotes, and myths related to the altitude at which these insects are typically found.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants mention that mosquitoes tend to bite people less than 25 feet above ground, citing the American Mosquito Control Association.
  • Others suggest that storms can occasionally inject insects into higher altitudes, although this claim lacks strong support.
  • A participant humorously notes that mosquitoes can be found at 20,000 feet if they sneak onto planes.
  • There is speculation that mosquitoes may fly higher for mating purposes, similar to bees.
  • Some participants argue that mosquitoes are often found near water and moist locations, leading to bites primarily occurring near the ground.
  • One participant shares a quote indicating that Asian Tiger Mosquitoes have been found breeding at heights over 40 feet and in high-rise apartments, challenging the notion that they do not fly high.
  • Another participant mentions that Anopheles mosquitoes can be found at altitudes up to 500 meters, suggesting that altitude may not limit their presence.
  • There are claims that mosquitoes can fly high, with some participants arguing that observational limitations do not reflect their capabilities.
  • One participant proposes a theoretical experiment involving lowering pressure to determine the upper limit of mosquito flight, while another questions the validity of a linked argument regarding mosquito flight heights.
  • Disagreements arise over the credibility of sources and the reasoning behind claims about mosquito flight capabilities.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a range of views on the flight heights of mosquitoes and flies, with no clear consensus reached. Some support the idea that mosquitoes can fly at significant altitudes, while others challenge this notion based on personal experiences and anecdotal evidence.

Contextual Notes

Some claims rely on anecdotal evidence or specific studies that may not be universally applicable. The discussion includes references to various heights and conditions under which mosquitoes are found, but lacks definitive conclusions or universally accepted data.

Mk
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How high do mosquitoes fly? How high do flies fly? From the ground I mean.

I read a source that said mosquitoes tend to bite people less than 25 feet up. That was the American Mosquito Control Association or something like that. Flies the same?
 
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On purpose, yeah, but I heard once that every now and then a storm will inject some insects into the stratosphere. :bugeye:

Dunno about that 25 feet thing, though.
 
Oh, about 20,000 feet...when one sneaks onto a plane. :biggrin:

Okay, now where did my "more than you ever wanted to know about mosquitoes" link go? Oh, here it is: http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~insects/mosbiol.htm

Shoot! I don't see anything about how high they fly. They don't seem to have any sort of mosquito myths page either. I don't know how high they can fly, but since mosquitoes tend to swarm around water and moist locations, it sounds fairly reasonable that most people are bitten while near the ground.
 
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Perhaps like bees they only fly high to mate, otherwise I would go with moonbear on the idea that they stay low to ground based on the fact there is blood down there.
 
Moonbear said:
I don't know how high they can fly, but since mosquitoes tend to swarm around water and moist locations, it sounds fairly reasonable that most people are bitten while near the ground.
Well, there is that, plus the fact that not a whole lot of people can fly more than 25 feet above the ground (personally, I've made it up to 80 feet, but my arms get tired pretty quick). :smile:
 
russ_watters said:
Well, there is that, plus the fact that not a whole lot of people can fly more than 25 feet above the ground (personally, I've made it up to 80 feet, but my arms get tired pretty quick). :smile:
:smile: I was thinking more about high rise buildings. I've heard something similar before about mosquitoes not flying above the 3rd floor of buildings, and am pretty sure it was myth, but don't have anything to support or refute it.
 
I liked the bit about the mosquito sneaking onto a plane going up 20,000 feet:smile:

But more seriously, here is a quote from the AMCA site.
"Mosquitoes that bite humans prefer to fly at heights of less than 25 ft. Asian Tiger Mosquitoes have been found breeding in treeholes over 40 feet above ground. In Singapore, they have been found in apartments 21 stories above ground. Mosquitoes have been found breeding up to 14,000 feet in the Himalayas and 2000 feet underground in mines in India." http://www.mosquito.org/FAQ-Conlon.php (The American Mosquito Control Association)
 
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Mk said:
How high do mosquitoes fly? How high do flies fly? From the ground I mean.
I read a source that said mosquitoes tend to bite people less than 25 feet up. That was the American Mosquito Control Association or something like that. Flies the same?

Well I have a buddy that has an apt on the 20th level and there have been Mosquitos on the balcony
 
Greg Bernhardt said:
Well I have a buddy that has an apt on the 20th level and there have been Mosquitos on the balcony
They probably took the elevator!:smile:
 
  • #10
Greg Bernhardt said:
Well I have a buddy that has an apt on the 20th level and there have been Mosquitos on the balcony
One of the retarded mosquitos probably got up there and laid eggs in his "Effect of sunlight on water" experiments.
 
  • #11
Check out this link for a good argument on the subject.

http://www2.hawaii.edu/~sakae/canmosquitoesflyhigh.htm
 
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  • #12
anopheles,the vector of malaria goes up to 500 m...no malaria case is seen over this height...i heard this during a lesson!
 
  • #13
yes, but just because they don't happen to be in high places it doesn't mean they can't get there. Observance and capability are two different things. I suggest you check out http://www2.hawaii.edu/~sakae/canmosquitoesflyhigh.htm to settle the argument. MOSQUITOES CAN FLY HIGH!
 
  • #14
Couldn't we just keep lowering the pressure in a contained space until all the mosquitoes can't fly? Then that would definitely be the upper limit.
 
  • #15
Moonbear said:
I've heard something similar before about mosquitoes not flying above the 3rd floor of buildings, and am pretty sure it was myth, but don't have anything to support or refute it.

This is definitely not true. I live on the 10th floor and we regularly have mosquitos. Maybe this is due because behind the building where I have my appartment, a mountain raises (I'm facing a high-sloped forest at the back), but the horizontal distance to the side of the mountain is bigger than the direct distance to the floor (the height).
 
  • #16
ssqware said:
Check out this link for a good argument on the subject.

http://www2.hawaii.edu/~sakae/canmosquitoesflyhigh.htm

yes, but just because they don't happen to be in high places it doesn't mean they can't get there. Observance and capability are two different things. I suggest you check out this to settle the argument. MOSQUITOES CAN FLY HIGH!

That's an awful link with poorly-reasoned arguments and no useful information, in fact written by an undergraduate in business school.
Many claims of animal endurance seem beyond comprehension but actually can and do happen. Some television shows, such as Ripley's Believe it or Not, actually make a living by displaying such mind-blowing spectacles. If an ant can carry 100 times its body weight, a spider can make the strongest substance known to science and a monarch butterfly can span the pacific ocean during migration, then really, is it that difficult to believe that mosquitoes fly high?
Therefore, the summation of a mosquito's tiny vertical movements can eventually equal the distance needed to scale a tall building. Also supporting this claim is the fact that the force of gravity weakens at higher altitudes, thus making the mosquito's climb even easier.
 
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  • #17
From http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol4no4/adobe/malakooti.pdf, U. of Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland:

Unlike the parasite, the mosquito vector can
commonly be found at altitudes from >1,600 m
(3,4) to 3,000 m, demonstrating that the limiting
factor for malaria transmission at high altitude
is the survival of the Plasmodium parasite.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol4no4/adobe/malakooti.pdf
 
  • #18
Even more relevant, this shows how high mosquitos fly relative to the ground below them (from an abstract by Kay, B.H. and Farrow, R.A., published in J. of Medical Entomology):

To investigate whether this species disperses in this manner, mosquitoes were identified from 368 aerial kite trap collections operated at 50–310 m (altitude) at inland New South Wales between November 1979 to December 1984. Forty samples (9 during daylight and 31 at night) contained mosquitoes, of which 221 could be identified as Culex australicus Dobrotworsky & Drummond (58.8%), Culex annulirostris (21.3%), Anopheles annulipes Walker s.l. (10.4%), Aedes theobaldi (Taylor) (7.2%), Aedes rubrithorax (Macquart) (1.4%), and Aedes sagax (Skuse) (<0.9%).
http://www.bioone.org/bioone/?request=get-document&issn=0022-2585&volume=037&issue=06&page=0797
 
  • #19
What say you?

rachmaninoff said:
That's an awful link with poorly-reasoned arguments and no useful information, in fact written by an undergraduate in business school.

Well, you display your displeasure with the argument, yet you don't give any support as to why they are "poorly-reasoned." You mearly just re-quote what has already been said. Sounds to me like your rebuttle is the one that is poorly reasoned!

:confused:
 
  • #20
He bolded the part where it said "force of gravity weakens at higher altitudes," in this small of a magnitude of distance, it wouldn't matter.
 

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