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How do mosquitoes use thermal cues to locate warm-blooded hosts?

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thermoreception in polar bears — Thermoreception Warm-blooded animals, such as polar bears, maintain stable body temperatures and adapt to substantial geographic and seasonal temperature fluctuations. Thermal adaptation is supported by the function of sensory structures called thermoreceptors.

Mosquitoes, such as the Aedes aegypti species, utilize highly sensitive thermal cues to locate warm-blooded hosts. They are capable of detecting extremely subtle changes in air temperature, sometimes responding to fluctuations as small as 0.05 °C (0.09 °F).1

This thermal sensitivity allows mosquitoes to identify and fly toward warm surfaces, even if those surfaces are inanimate and odorless, effectively mimicking the heat signature of a living host. While mosquitoes also rely on other cues—such as carbon dioxide output and chemical signals like lactic acid found in sweat—body heat remains a primary factor in stimulating and guiding these blood-feeding insects toward a target.12

In most insects, these thermoreceptors are located on the antennae, which serve as the primary sensory organs for detecting environmental stimuli.1