Fossils, genomes clash as scientists debate the mosquito’s origins

Mosquitoes have followed humanity to every corner of the world, acquiring a reputation for being one of our least welcome companions. They are carriers of some of the deadliest diseases on the planet, including malaria, dengue, Zika, yellow fever, and West Nile virus, which together claim over a million lives each year.

For their ubiquity, however, a fundamental question has lingered: when did mosquitoes first appear?

Scientists have believed for decades that mosquitoes were ancient, older than most mammals and perhaps some dinosaurs, already being around 220 million years ago.

But recent findings have challenged this view. In October, a team led by Tommy Lam at the University of Hong Kong published a paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) that concluded mos