Mosquitoes have scaled feet to help them land on water to lay eggs

According to Steve Gschmeissner, the photographer of a photo of a mosquito’s foot that won entry into the Royal Photographic Society’s International Images for Science contest in 2017, the scales that cover most of a mosquito’s body are especially dense on the leg. He told Live Science that these scales “help protect the limb and enable the mosquito to land on water, where these insects lay their eggs.”