Mosquitoes are drawn to flowers as much as people -- and now scientists know why
2 institutional releases
Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · View the paper (DOI)
Researchers at the University of Washington found that mosquitoes are drawn to certain flowers like the blunt-leaf orchid due to a finely balanced bouquet of chemical compounds. The team discovered that combining specific chemicals stimulates the mosquito brain, drawing in mosquitoes as effectively as a real flower.