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This 2006 photograph depicted a female Aedes aegypti mosquito as she was in the process of seeking out a penetrable site on the skin surface of its host. She'd then proceed to obtain a "blood meal", which normally would be from an unsuspecting host, but in this case, the CDC's biomedical photographer, James Gathany, had volunteered his own hand in order to entice the insect to alight, and feed. As it would fill with blood, the abdomen would become distended, thereby, stretching the exterior exoskeletal surface, thereby, causing it to become transparent, and allowing the collecting blood to become visible as an enlarging red mass. See PHIL # #8923, for this mosquito's appearance in its abdominally-distended state.
Created: 2006