Interview: The Sweetest Snack: Research Details Mosquitoes’ Nectar Preferences

Entomology Today, 4 April 2025

Melissa Mayer talks with Eva Herreros-Moya about her latest paper

"For many, mosquitoes and blood are inextricable. But most of the time—and all the time for male mosquitoes—these insects slide their piercing-sucking mouthparts into a flower rather than a vein, drawing up nectar as their primary food source.

But do mosquitoes have nectar preferences—and how do those predilections and the availability of nectar in the landscape affect the usefulness of baits like attractive targeted sugar baits (ATSBs)?"

Full post here.

Paper: Eva Herreros-Moya, Marianne Sinka, Angela F Harris, Julian Entwistle, Andrew C Martin, Kathy J Willis, The food of life: which nectar do mosquitoes feed on?—An evidence-based meta-analysis, Environmental Entomology, 2025;, nvaf009, https://doi.org/10.1093/ee/nvaf009.