Subterranean mosquitoes specialized for life in subways and sewers first evolved to pester humans millennia ago in Mediterranean civilizations.
A widely accepted story about the mosquitoes’ evolution put their origins in the London Underground train system in the last century or two. But the mosquitoes have actually been adapting to humanity’s cities for potentially thousands of years, researchers report in the Oct. 23 Science.
The northern house mosquito (Culex pipiens) typically bites birds. But one form found in urban underground areas across northern latitudes — C. pipiens f. molestus — has evolved to feed on humans and other mammals. It has key adaptations for living in secluded environments with