Mosquito Has a Needle-like Proboscis

• Scientists find that mosquito has proboscis that uncannily resembles a syringe tip.
• When we invented the subcutaneous injection to inject a pellet of medicine with a clunky darning needle, and deem it as cutting-edge technology, mosquitoes have been using this mechanism for millions of years.
• It’s proboscis has a Swiss Army Knife appendage with six instruments, of which five are dedicated to saw into the skin, push open a hole and drop saliva to make the blood drinkable, and one, which is named labrum, is for funneling the blood out.
• Only female mosquitoes “bite” human for blood, for they use the fluid’s protein to protect their egg production.
• Scientists are stunned with such uncanny resemblance between the proboscis and the syringe tip, and are looking for inspiration from it to design the next generation of medical device, such as the syringe for biopsy.
• Ref: Mosquitoes Stab Animals with a Syringelike Proboscis