sinarharapan.co – The oldest mosquito FOSSIL was found in amber fragments dating from 130 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period.
This fossil was discovered near the city of Hammana in Lebanon and is the earliest known mosquito fossil, according to the researchers who made the discovery.
They were surprised to find that male mosquitoes have long, piercing sucking mouthparts, which are currently only found in female mosquitoes.
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“Clearly they were hematophagous,” meaning they consumed blood, said geologist Dany Azar of the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Lebanese University.
Azar is the lead author of the study, which was published in the journal Current Biology this week.
“So this discovery is a major discovery in the history of mosquito evolution.”
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Both insect fossils, representing the same ancient species, are comparable to today’s mosquitoes in size and appearance.
However, the mouthparts used to collect blood were shorter than those used by female mosquitoes today.
“Mosquitoes are the most well-known blood-feeding mosquitoes on humans and most land vertebrates, and they transmit a number of parasites and diseases to their hosts,” according to Azar.
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Because they need protein to produce their eggs, only fertilized female mosquitoes will consume blood.
Nectar from unfertilized plants is consumed by both males and females. Some male mosquitoes, Azar said, do not consume food at all.
Some flying insects, such as the tsetse fly, have males that feed on blood. However, today’s mosquitoes are not the same.
2023-12-28 07:37:00
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