eTawau > Insects of Borneo > One pair of wings > Flies > Mosquitoes

Diptera: Culicidae: Aedes

The Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus

Field records from Tawau, 2007–2016

Order Diptera · Family Culicidae (mosquitoes) · Genus Aedes · Species Aedes albopictus, the Asian tiger mosquito — named by the photographer.

A black mosquito with bright white bands on the legs and white marks on the body. It bites by day. It is a carrier of dengue. The species is told from the similar yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti, by a single white stripe down the middle of the thorax; that stripe has not been checked on every photograph here. Only the females take blood; they need it to make eggs.

24 June 2007 — a female feeding, start to finish

A black-and-white mosquito standing on the skin of a hand.
16:13:51, landing.
The mosquito with its beak pushed into the skin.
16:14:26, beak in the skin.
The mosquito with its abdomen swollen and red with blood.
16:15:05, the abdomen filling red.
The mosquito with a fully swollen, bright red abdomen.
16:15:57, full.

Canon PowerShot A430; nine frames in about two minutes. The Field Activities Log Book places this day at the river beside the Tawau Sports Complex.

22 July and 12 October 2007

A tiger mosquito close up, showing white-banded legs and white marks on the abdomen.
22 Jul 2007, 11:10.
A tiger mosquito on skin, seen from the side.
12 Oct 2007, 07:59.
A tiger mosquito from above with long striped legs.
12 Oct 2007, 08:01.

Canon PowerShot A430. Places not recorded.

14 September 2008 — a female carrying mites

A tiger mosquito feeding, with small round red bodies attached to the side of its abdomen.
13:12, three small red bodies on the abdomen.
The mosquito swollen with blood, the small red bodies still attached.
13:16, the same mosquito, full of blood.

Canon PowerShot A460, at a forest reserve in Tawau town (the photographer's note). The photographer described the three red bodies as "lice (ticks or fleas)". They are probably mites, which as larvae often ride on mosquitoes and feed on them.

18 October 2016 — Taman Semarak

Two black-and-white mosquitoes on a white background.
18 Oct 2016, 12:31, two mosquitoes.

Canon PowerShot A480. The photographer's note: a male about 4 to 5 mm long, at Taman Semarak, and a sharp, itchy bite. Male mosquitoes feed on plant nectar and their mouthparts are not able to pierce skin, so the bite most likely came from a female.

Related: Flies of Borneo · One pair of wings
Photographs © Wong Fook Yee. Notes on dates and places are the photographer's own; times from the cameras. Species facts: Wikipedia, "Aedes albopictus". Page written 14 October 2026; it replaces the old Asian tiger mosquito page, whose general text was copied from other websites and has not been kept.