## Metadata - Author: [[Andrew Spielman]] - Full Title: Mosquito - Category: #books ## Highlights - the way mosquitoes serve botflies in Central and South America. The size of a bumblebee, the fly seizes a mosquito in midair and glues her own eggs to her captive’s abdomen. Later, when the mosquito feeds on a person, the damp warmth of human skin causes the fly’s eggs to hatch, leaving maggots to burrow into the new host. Soon, the maggot’s breathing apparatus can be seen poking through the victim’s skin. Within a week, it’s as large as a small olive. ([Location 51](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00C0ZP2O2&location=51)) - 2,500 different species of mosquitoes. ([Location 94](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00C0ZP2O2&location=94)) - All of the world’s insects as well as all arthropods, including crabs and lobsters, are descended from a single segmented ancestor, a wormish creature called an onychophoran. Onychophora, which still crawl the planet today, are made of more than a dozen similar segments, each with a pair of stubby legs. An onychophoran possesses a mouth, which is always open, a simple gut, and an anus at its terminal end. Though it is sometimes difficult to see, especially in crabs, all arthropods share onychophora’s segmentation. ([Location 119](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00C0ZP2O2&location=119))