It was believed that this subterranean mosquito was a distinct species branched from above-ground species 'Culex pipiens' in recent history. This was seemingly confirmed in 2004, when attempts to back-breed the Underground mosquitoes with above-ground C. pipiens failed to produce any offspring.
Emerging Vectors in the Culex pipiens ComplexIn the Old World, some mosquitoes in the Culex pipiens complex are excellent enzootic vectors of West Nile virus, circulating the virus among birds, whereas others bite mainly humans and other mammals...www.science.orgThat story was very appealing as an example of "evolution in action", but a study in 2025 confirmed that our tunnel-dwelling skeeter is just a SUBspecies of C. pipiens, one that diverged from the main line 1000-2000 years ago in Egypt. It successfully produces hybrids with the ancestral line.
Ancient origin of an urban underground mosquitoUnderstanding how life is adapting to urban environments represents an important challenge in evolutionary biology. In this work, we investigate a widely cited example of urban adaptation, Culex pipie...www.science.orgWhat's happened is that by living underground, the subspecies ('forma'), C. pipiens f. MOLESTUS had to adapt to a new primary host. C. pipiens prefers bird blood, but there aren't enough in the subway tunnels to feed on, so f. molestus has adapted to feed on /mammals/ in these subterranean spaces.
London Tube Train ArrivalAlt: London Tube Train Arrival: people stand on the platform motionless as the animated part of the GIF, the tube or subway, moves at a high rate of speed with motion blur shown in the repeating red and white sections.static.klipy.comThis mostly means humans & rodents. When given a choice between chicken & human blood the f. molestus mosquito always prefers the human. The underground variant is also 'autogenous' meaning it can lay its first clutch of eggs without a blood-meal, requiring one only for subsequent clutches.
The London Underground Has Its Own Mosquito SubspeciesTake a bite out of this strange evolutionary examplewww.smithsonianmag.comThe London Underground Mosquito is still an example of evolutionary adaptation, but not an example of SPECIATION. It's also a reminder of the way that humans shape the global environment: we created a new ecological niche for mosquitoes through our clever inventions & now we reap the consequences.🦟
Mosquito ChaseAlt: Mosquito Chase: I have no idea what this is from, but it's a Harryhausen style claymation mosquito chasing a man up a set of stairs that probably isn't a subway station, now that I look more carefully at it.static.klipy.com
