She’s out resting in the shade of your shrubs and vines, waiting for you to walk by before she attacks. In the blink of an eye, the wispy creature takes a nip out of you, leaving behind the most common summertime tattoo. Why does a mosquito bite? It’s all about sex. “Her sole purpose is to reproduce,“ said Lane Carr, senior environmental inspector for Henrico County. “The only reason she looks for blood is to help her lay fertile eggs.“

1. False. Mosquitoes tend to breed in small, temporary sources of water, such as puddles, birdbaths or kiddie pools—particularly Asian tigers, which breed in containers. Mosquitoes can breed in as little as a tablespoon of water. 2. True and false. “Certain times of day can play a role, depending on the species,“ said David N. Gaines, state public health entomologist for the Virginia Department of Health. “But most people bitten in Virginia are bitten by the Asian tiger mosquito, which bites during daylight hours.“

The fireflies on Denise Wade’s property in Montgomery, Texas, are so magical that they remind her of a very different time of year. “I can say safely that there are thousands,“ she says, “and they’re at all levels and they’re blinking like Christmas lights. It’s awesome.“ Wade has seen the number of fireflies increase since she bought her property, but a lot of people have a different experience. In parts of the world where firefly populations have been monitored for a long time, such as Japan, their numbers are down. And scientists think the same might be true in the U.S.