Ep.15 Are mosquitoes attracted to dark colors?

Surely you are curious or at least amused by the question we answer today in the series “Myth or Fact”: are mosquitoes attracted to dark colors? It’s an interesting piece of information that we found on the internet, and if you want to know the answer, we invite you to follow Mr. Alexandru Vladimirescu, PhD in biology and head of the medical entomology laboratory at the Cantacuzino Institute.

What are you curious about? Write us in the comments and we’ll ask the specialist for you!

Interview transcript

In the myth or reality series, we continue the debate with Mr. Alexandru Vladimirescu, PhD in biology and head of the Medical Entomology Laboratory at the Cantacuzino Institute. We read so on the internet: dark colors attract mosquitoes. Mr. Vladimirescu, is this a myth or a fact?

No, it’s really a reality this time. It really is. Why? The question is, why? When you have dark colors, that means you’re absorbing more heat, more thermal energy, you’re holding in your earth energy. And then the mosquito is very sensitive to the infrared zone, so it goes where it’s warm. Also, mosquitoes, as I was saying before, are not very good at seeing, to put it in inverted commas, in very bright light, so they always prefer shaded areas. As their clothes are, of course, darker in color, they are more attracted to them. That is why mosquitoes, in summer, especially during the day, if they are not diurnal, then they retreat to the back of the leaves, precisely where the light is not very strong.

So if we don’t want to be bitten by mosquitoes we dress in white or light colors.

That would be good. And that makes it easier to notice them.