If you’ve ever had to prepare a meal for a picky eater, you know it’s not easy. They may not like certain flavors or textures, and there are often foods you have to avoid altogether.

And it turns out, humans aren’t the only species with picky eaters – mosquitoes can also be finicky.

We are biology researchers who study mosquito behavior, and we recently discovered that mosquitoes can be picky about their favorite food – that is, human blood.

Learning what attracts these mosquitoes could be useful to designing repellents that deter them from biting people and reducing the local populations of mosquitoes that spread disease. And understanding why the living community of microbes on our skin appeals to mosquitoes could help in the development of probiotic mosquito repellents.

Our study focused on three mosquito species: Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus and Culex quinquefasciatus. All three are abundant where we live in South Florida, among many other places.

Of course, the average person won’t be able to tell which species of mosquito bit them, especially since they might not realize they’re being bitten in the moment. But we looked at each of these species, since they pose different health risks to humans.

Aedes aegypti live in urban environments, primarily in warm climates, and they prefer biting humans over animals. They are responsible for spreading diseases to humans like the Zika virus, which can cause birth defects, and dengue fever, which can cause a rash, vomiting and, in severe cases, hemorrhaging and dangerous drops in blood pressure.

Aedes albopictus, also known as the Asian tiger mosquito, are an invasive species in the U.S. They love biting humans, but these mosquitoes will venture out of urban environments in search of a good meal. They also spread dengue fever, as well as chikungunya, which causes fever and joint pain.

The final mosquito species, Culex quinquefasciatus, prefers to........

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