This may be anecdotal... The Indian sub-continent is in the rainy part of summer

Question

This may be anecdotal...

The Indian sub-continent is in the rainy part of summer. It follows the mosquito population goes up.

So when I sliced my palm, I expected the mosquitoes to collect there in force. Yet whilst they continued to go about their business on the forearms, face and elsewhere - the blood flowing out of my palm held no attraction for them. This even after I deliberately stood still for nearly a minute! Perhaps the clotting process/platelets/etc were a repellent.

Why do mosquitoes not collect blood after platelets activate?

Explanation / Answer

Blood from a cut or a wound is tainted with bacteria from the surrounding environment. To a mosquito from an evolutionary perspective it would be like eating off the floor. The blood which flows through your veins is clean(er) due to your immune system and so evolution selected a pathway based on insertion into the skin in order to obtain the meal.

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