Under optimal conditions, the egg of an Aedes mosquito can hatch into a larva in less than a day. The larva then takes about four days to develop in a pupa, from which an adult mosquito will emerge after two days. Three days after the mosquito has bitten a person and taken in blood, it will lay eggs, and the cycle begins again.

• Only the female aedes mosquito bites as it needs the protein in blood to develop its eggs.
• The mosquito becomes infective approximately 7 days after it has bitten a person carrying the virus. This is the extrinsic incubation period, during which time the virus replicates in the mosquito and reaches the salivary glands.
• Peak biting is at dawn and dusk.
• The average lifespan of an Aedes mosquito in Nature is 2 weeks
• The mosquito can lay eggs about 3 times in its lifetime, and about 100 eggs are produced each time.
• The eggs can lie dormant in dry conditions for up to about 9 months, after which they can hatch if exposed to favourable conditions, i.e. water and food