The oldest known mosquitoes are known from amber dating to the Late Cretaceous.
5.4 Egg development and blood digestion. They are mostly active at 60–80 degrees Fahrenheit. Mosquitoes cannot live or function properly when the air temperature is below 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius). It has been claimed that almost half of the people who have ever lived have died of mosquito-vectored disease, but this claim is disputed, with more conservative estimates placing the death toll closer to 5% of all humans. By transmitting diseases, mosquitoes cause the deaths of more people than any other animal taxon: over 700,000 each year. In this way, mosquitoes are important vectors of parasitic diseases such as malaria and filariasis, and arboviral diseases such as yellow fever, Chikungunya, West Nile, dengue fever, and Zika. In addition, many species can ingest pathogens while biting, and transmit them to future hosts. The mosquito's saliva is transferred to the host during the bite, and can cause an itchy rash. Thousands of mosquito species feed on the blood of various hosts - vertebrates, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and some fish along with some invertebrates, primarily other arthropods. The adult females of most species have tube-like mouthparts (called a proboscis) that can pierce the skin of a host and feed on blood, which contains protein and iron needed to produce eggs. These larvae are important food sources for many freshwater animals, such as dragonfly nymphs, many fish, and some birds such as ducks. 
Eggs are laid on the water surface they hatch into motile larvae that feed on aquatic algae and organic material. The mosquito life cycle consists of egg, larva, pupa, and adult stages.
Mosquitoes have a slender segmented body, one pair of wings, one pair of halteres, three pairs of long hair-like legs, and elongated mouthparts. The word "mosquito" (formed by mosca and diminutive -ito) is Spanish and Portuguese for "little fly". Mosquitoes are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin culex meaning " gnat").
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