Flowers for Mosquitos

The Asian tiger mosquito’s a pest,

It’s a vector of death-causing disease;

In urban locations it makes its nest,

And whilst the sun is up it flies and feeds.

It started out in Southeast Asian climes,

But shipping has caused it to spread its wings;

Now in America it plots its crimes,

As yellow fever princes, queens and kings.

In containers their eggs they like to lay,

Like old tyres or tins of cheap dog food;

But like some tired Hollywood cliché

The females like some flowers near their brood.

So bear in mind those florae near your stream

May house a dengue-fever-ridden team.

This is a Shakespearian sonnet based on this piece of research, which found that the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) is more likely to lay its eggs in water sources near flowers than in water sources without.

An audio version of this poem can be heard here.