As far as I know, mosquitoes are able to perceive the carbon dioxide released by human beings, and the discrepancies between people regarding how often they are bitten is due to variable CO2 release, making for instance pregnant women more vulnerable.
Now I wonder how do those bugs perceive the CO2. Do they have specialized organs ? Do they “smell” it ?
In: Biology
A number of compounds secreted by humans have been shown to be mosquito attractants, including lactic acid from human skin and exhaled breath, 1-octen-3-ol from human sweat and breath, and carbon dioxide—human breath is ∼4% CO2, with traces expired from skin. In fact, carbon dioxide appears to be one of the most potent mosquito stimulants.
Mosquitoes have two sets of noses: the antennae and maxillary palp in their head. These “smell” organs are covered by specialized sensory hairs called sensilla that usually house two to three olfactory neurons. Odorants activate olfactory receptors expressed on the dendrites of olfactory neurons to transmit signals into the brain. The smell activity of these neurons has been directly measured by inserting a recording electrode into the sensilla.
[ref](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867414001585)
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