Bob Bestler | Mosquitoes something to buzz about

McClellanville residents have their own little car window tag, the kind that tells folks where you are from - as if anyone really cares.

Ours is unique. It says MCLV and is adorned, above the C, with a tiny black mosquito.

So forget about the shrimp boats that line our dock. Forget about the canopied live oak trees.

It is the mosquito that occupies center stage around here, especially in the summer months and especially after a rainfall.

We even have a Skeeter Patrol, which alerts Charleston County that the mosquitoes have gotten so thick that we need our town sprayed. It happens about 10 times a year.

I have a long history with mosquitoes. In Minnesota, we used to joke that the mosquito was our state bird. In Wisconsin, where I worked for several years, our newspaper published a daily Skeeter Meter to gauge the severity of the latest outbreak.

I recently learned there is something called the American Mosquito Control Association that knows just about everything there is to know about mosquitoes, a name that actually means "little fly.''

It tells us the mosquito has been on earth for about 400 million years and has been in North America for 100 million of them.

The salt marsh can produce 8 million females per acre after a rain, which is unfortunate since the females are the biters. They ingest blood so their eggs can mature before laying. For nourishment, both males and females feed off plant nectars, much like honey bees.

Mosquitoes find hosts by sight, through movement; by detecting infrared radiation emitted by warms bodies; and by chemical signals, especially carbon dioxide, they can detect from as far away as 115 feet.

Here are a few other things researchers claim to have found about mosquitoes:

Women are more attractive to mosquitoes because of the difference in hormones.

Blondes are more attractive to them than brunettes.

Dark clothing attracts mosquitoes and movement increases biting by 50 percent.

A full moon increases mosquito activity by 500 percent.

So how can we prevent mosquito bites? No problem. Wear light clothing on a moonless night and try to be a dark-haired guy. And don't move. Good luck.