Libanoculex, the earliest known mosquito

[Halichoeres]

If you estimate fly phylogeny using DNA, the sequences suggest that mosquitoes originated in the late Jurassic, but fossils are only known from the Cretaceous onward. A new paper describes two mosquito specimens in amber from the Barremian of Lebanon, pushing back the earliest fossil by several million years. The specimens are male, but have mouthparts adapted for blood-feeding, which is a bit surprising because in living mosquitoes males are nectar feeders if they eat at all. Anyway, this is maybe the great grand-uncle of the only animal that has killed more humans than humans themselves.

Here's a summary image with a photo of one specimen, a close-up of the mouthparts, some nice artwork, and a time-scaled phylogeny relative to other nematocerid flies.


Paper (paywalled, but I'm happy to email it to anyone who wants it): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.10.047

[Faelrin]

Beautiful specimen. Do any modern mosquitoes have those fluffy moth like antennae? Despite it's nature, it is kind of cute. Interesting to think this little insect group that evolved during the time of the non-avian dinosaurs has continued to survive into some select problematic species (well at least as far as the disease carrying blood drinker females go).

Any info or guesses to what it might have been feeding on, as far as the local fauna goes?

Can't help but be reminded of that whole Jurassic Park Mr. DNA sequence too.

[Newt]

Neat!

@Faelrin - Males of extant mosquitoes (and many other nematocerid flies) have plumose antennae. They are chemoreceptory in function and are mainly used to locate mates (females also use their antennae to locate their prey, but big stinky vertebrates don't require such elaborate sense organs to sniff out).

[Newt]

Re: potential prey, my quick research revealed only the lizard Baabdasaurus xenurus and some unclassified feathers from the Barremian amber of Lebanon, as well as two brachiosaurid teeth from the surrounding sediments. Lebanon was part of the Tethyan coast of Gondwana at the time, and likely had a similar fauna to the penecontemporary (Barremian-Aptian) deposits of northern Africa (spinosaurid and carcharodontosaurid theropods, rebacchisaurid sauropods, iguanodontians, diverse crocodylians).

[Faelrin]

@Newt Thanks for all the info there. Very much appreciated.

[Halichoeres]

Very thorough, Newt, thanks! Now we have some guesses as to what Wu can clone from it. Convenient that males of this species drink blood.

[Papi-Anon]

So what you're saying is, we only need to go to the Jurassic to do a thorough extermination of these ancient pests and retroactively make living in the muggier parts of the world safer and more tolerable, 'Sound of Thunder' situation be damned.