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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Current mosquitoes evolved more recently than previously thought

Genetic analysis reveals that most living genera of mosquitoes emerged around 73 million years ago.
Close-up of a mosquito-like creature trapped in clear yellow amber

A mosquito-like insect that was trapped in amber around 125 million years ago. Modern mosquitoes evolved only much later. Credit: Marc Deville/Gamma-Rapho/Getty

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A fresh revision of the mosquito family tree1 suggests that the insects are 100 million years younger than previously thought — and that ancestors of modern mozzies emerged around the same time as the predecessors of Plasmodium — a genus that includes parasites that cause malaria.

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Nature 646, 519 (2025)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-03244-9

References

  1. Pierce, M. P. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 122, e2519291122 (2025).

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