These are the colours in the clothes that attract mosquitoes, according to scientists

The first signal to a mosquito to scan for colours and get biting is a plume of carbon dioxide from human breath, a team found. But stay covered up as exposed skin, of whatever colour, is seen as bright red to the bloodsuckers – which can carry deadly diseases, such as malaria.

Prof Jeffrey Riffell, of the University of Washington, US, described the mosquito’s attraction to certain colours as “smelling their own version of a bakery”. Nature Communications published the findings.