A new study analyzing mosquito DNA suggests that the human-biting *Aedes aegypti* molestus form, previously thought to have evolved in urban environments within centuries, originated in the Middle East thousands of years ago. Researchers at Princeton University found genetic evidence linking molestus to Mediterranean *pipiens* mosquitoes and indicating a longer presence in the eastern Mediterranean. This suggests that molestus mosquitoes were already adapted to urban environments before colonizing London's underground tunnels.
and biologists thought the molestus form had evolved in urban environments within the past few centuries.at Princeton University and her colleagues analysed the DNA of 790 mosquitoes from 44 countries around the world, including the molestus and pipiens forms as well as some closely related species.
First, the molestus form is genetically closer to pipiens populations from the Mediterranean basin than it is to pipiens populations in northern Europe. They are like close cousins to these Mediterranean pipiens mosquitoes, says McBride, suggesting that one arose from the other. Finally, the pipiens form doesn’t exist in the Middle East. This makes it much easier to imagine how the ancestors of the molestus mosquitoes could have colonised the region and evolved to bite humans in isolation, without interbreeding with the bird-biting pipiens insects, says McBride.
MOSQUITOES EVOLUTION GENETICS MIDDLE EAST URBAN ENVIRONMENTS
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