How Big Were Mosquitoes in Prehistoric Times?

Wouter

Among the more intriguing finds of the past several years is the discovery of a blood-filled mosquito. It is the first direct evidence of mosquitoes feeding on blood meals in the fossil record. It also shows that mosquitoes have been eating blood for millions of years.

The ancient mosquito was found in shale rock in northwest Montana. The specimen shows a female insect that died after eating blood. The insect’s abdomen was filled with blood, which preserved inside the insect. The mosquito was dated at 46 million years old.

The female mosquito was roughly 6 mm long. It had a proboscis about 1.9 mm long, and short palpi. The wing of the insect was enlarged. The specimen also had wing veins. The mosquito had an early lineage of anopheline mosquitoes.

Scientists have a lot of questions about the mosquito. First, how could a mosquito engorged with blood survive 46 million years in stone? Second, why would a mosquito have blood in its abdomen? Finally, what creature’s blood filled the mosquito’s abdomen? These are all interesting questions, but they are unanswered.

Scientists have also found two new mosquito species in Eocene deposits in northwest Montana. The two species are Culex damnatorum and Priscoculex burmanicus. These two mosquitoes are described from compression fossils. These fossils are from well-preserved shale deposits.

The Montana fossils contain intricate details. They include scales, sexual organs, wing veins, and hair-like structures on the mosquito wings.

The discovery of these ancient mosquitoes was made by a volunteer at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Dale Greenwalt has been collecting fossils in Western Montana since 2008. He also catalogued the specimens for the paleobiology department at the Smithsonian.

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