Can mosquitoes breed in less than 3 inches of water?

Question

Can mosquitoes breed in less than 3 inches of water?

Answer 1

Technically, mosquitoes don't breed in water.  The actual breeding takes place off in the bushes and grasses where the males and females meet.

What happens in the water is properly known as larval development.  Unfortunately, the habit of calling these larval development habitats "breeding sites" is long ingrained, and even finds its insidious way into technical journals, and I've even caught myself using it a time or two.

Anyhow, to actually answer your question: yes.

Depending on the mosquito species, some of them can develop in incredibly shallow water.  

I've seen hundreds of mosquito larvae developing in the water left in the rut from a bicycle tire, which was probably no more than 1/2 inch deep.

Some of the nuisance species we have around here can even develop in water that is so shallow it's barely the width of the mosquito larva.  We usually call these bootheel ponds, because it doesn't look like there's water there, but if you push your bootheel into the mud, it fills with water and there's mosquito larvae in it.

Also, how long larval development takes can vary a lot by species and environmental conditions.  If it's hot and humid, there are some species that can go from egg right through all the larval stages and pupation, and emerge as adults in as little as four days.

Answer 2

sure can

Answer 3

Definitely but the larvae need some time to move through the various stages to become an adult.  If it dries in a week or two, they wouldn't survive.