Field Notes: Mosquitoes (Patreon)

With over 15 million views, our episode, "How Mosquitoes Use Six Needles to Suck Your Blood" is our most popular Deep Look video. And now our "parasite producer" Gabriela Quirós has a new episode premiering soon about this bloodthirsty insect.

During the shoot, Gabriela held a glass box so that University of California, Davis entomologist Chris Barker could blow an Aedes aegypti mosquito into it to be filmed. These mosquitoes, which are found in California and all around the world, can transmit the viruses that cause dengue and Zika. 

Gabriela made the glass boxes by gluing together thin sheets of glass that are normally used to put samples under a microscope. Once Chris blew a mosquito into a box, she covered it with a glass slide to prevent the insect from flying out. Then our series cinematographer Josh Cassidy (not in the photo) filmed the mosquitoes laying their eggs on the glass.

You can learn more when this episode premieres on Tuesday, April 7. Our Patreon supporters will get an early look this Friday, April 3!

Credit: Josh Cassidy/KQED