2025-10-27 ミュンヘン大学(LMU)
<関連情報>
- https://www.lmu.de/en/newsroom/news-overview/news/fossil-reveals-early-evolution-of-mosquitoes.html
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1342937X25003004
9900万年前の琥珀の中から、現代的な形態を持つ初めての蚊の幼虫の化石が発見され、蚊(双翅目:カ科)の進化史に新たな光を当てた First fossil mosquito larva in 99-million-year-old amber with a modern type of morphology sheds light on the evolutionary history of mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae)
André P. Amaral, Art Borkent, Viktor A. Baranov, Carolin Haug, Joachim T. Haug
Gondwana Research Available online 11 October 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2025.09.011
Graphical abstract
Highlights
- Earliest mosquito larva ever discovered, from Cretaceous amber.
- Only Mesozoic mosquito linked to a lineage with modern representatives.
- Supports Jurassic origin and Early Cretaceous diversification of mosquitoes.
Abstract
Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) have been hypothesized to have originated during the Jurassic Period, about 201–145 million years ago, primarily based on fossil evidence from their sister group, Chaoboridae (phantom midges). However, direct evidence for such an early origin of Culicidae is currently absent. The oldest known mosquito fossils, all adults and recovered from Cretaceous amber deposits about 99 million years ago, display morphologies that differ substantially from modern forms and are regarded as representatives of an extinct lineage, Burmaculicinae. Here we report the discovery of a fossil that represents both the first mosquito larva preserved in amber and the first immature mosquito from the Mesozoic Era, named as a new genus and species Cretosabethes primaevus Amaral & Borkent gen. et sp. n. The specimen exhibits typical mosquito larval morphology and can be confidently identified as an ingroup of Sabethini, a lineage with numerous extant representatives. This finding provides strong support for the Jurassic origin of Culicidae and suggests that the larval morphology of mosquitoes has remained relatively conserved for at least the past 99 million years.
