But they still bite…
“Researchers trace the ancient origins of an urban mosquito species,” by Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, News-Medical.Net, October 23, 2025.
New research has uncovered the ancient origins of an urban mosquito species, Culex pipiens form molestus, also known as the ‘London Underground mosquito’ – disproving a long-held theory of when it first evolved.
Published today (23 October) in Science, researchers from Princeton University, the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the Natural History Museum in London and their collaborators extracted and analyzed hundreds of mosquito DNA samples to trace the emergence of the urban insect species.
The result of the study revises one of the ‘textbook examples’ of urban evolution and adaptation, and it carries important public health implications regarding the spread of diseases. Read the whole article here.