London underground mutant mosquito has surprisingly old origin

A form of mosquito associated with London underground developed^Th Century.

Culex pipiens f. Molestus Available in cities all over the world, but it became widely known as London Underground Mosquito after World War II, as it was the scourge of Londoners that were protected in pipe stations during flash.

It is closely linked to a brird -biting form of the same species known as Culex Pipiens f. Pipiens, And biologists believed that the molestus forms had evolved in cities around the past centuries.

To learn more about its origins, Arindy McBride at Princeton University, and her Colugues analyzed the DNA from 790 mosquitoes from 44 countries that reach the world, including the molesus and pipies forms as well as some closely related species.

The results suggest that molesus -mosquito, rather endizing in the London Tube tunnels, probably evolved in the Middle East thousands of years ago. There are three main evidence lines for this.

First, the molesus form is genetically closer to the pipia’s populations from the Mediterranean than it is that pipiens populations in Northern Europe. They are like close cousins ​​to these Mediterranean mosquitoes, McBride says, suggesting that oneos from the other.

Mostus mosquito from the eastern Mediterranean is also genetically more variable than molesus in underground habitats from Northern Europe. “This suggests that they have been present in the eastern Mediterranean for a significant length period,” says McBride.

Finlly is not found pipia form in the Middle East. This makes it much easier to imagine how the ancestors of the molestus mosquitoes could have colonized the region and evolved to bite humans, without breeding with the bird-biting pipia’s insects, says McBride.

Based on the team’s analysis of genetic mutations, it is almost certain that the molestus mosquitoes are far more old than previously assumed, says McBride. “By calculations Tell us that it must have been at least 1000 years ago and more likely 2000 to 10,000 years ago [that they evolved]. This puts perfectly with the development of agriculture in the Middle East.

“Instead of developing from the bottom of town underground spaces, Molesus was already due to urban life thanks to much older adaptations,” she says. “When established in cities, it has probably developed further.”

The crowded around cities can lead to new hybrids between the bird -biting and human biting forms that would have public health consequences, says McBride. “Even if hybridization is rare, these mosquitoes may show intermediate behavior and increased ability to transmit Nile Nile [virus] From birds to humans.