What is it about?
This research explores how mosquitoes evolved and reshapes our understanding of their origins. By analyzing genome-wide data from many species, we reconstructed a new mosquito family tree and uncovered when and how these disease-carrying insects diversified.
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Why is it important?
Our study revises the evolutionary history of mosquitoes — the group of insects responsible for transmitting malaria and many other diseases. Using genome-wide data from important lineages of mosquitoes, we found that their family tree looks very different from what scientists had believed for decades. We discovered that mosquitoes evolved about 100 million years later than previously thought, emerging during the Cretaceous period rather than the Jurassic. This timing coincides with the rise of Plasmodium parasites, suggesting that the evolution of mosquitoes and malaria parasites has been closely linked from the beginning. Our analyses also revealed that the two main mosquito subfamilies, Anophelinae and Culicinae, are not truly distinct evolutionary lineages as long assumed — a finding that changes how we understand mosquito biology and vector evolution. These results provide a new framework for studying mosquito diversity, disease transmission, and evolutionary biology.
Perspectives
Understanding mosquito evolution helps explain why certain species transmit disease while others do not. By uncovering when and how mosquitoes evolved, this work provides a foundation for studying how mosquitoes and their pathogens have co-evolved. These findings could help scientists develop better ways to predict or prevent the emergence of mosquito-borne diseases in a changing climate.
Mac Pierce
University of Hong Kong
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Phylogenomics redefines the evolutionary history of mosquitoes, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, October 2025, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2519291122.
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