Palaeontologists unveiled a 99-million-year-old mosquito larva preserved in Burmese amber, the earliest known mosquito fossil and the first immature specimen from the Mesozoic, according to Phys.org. The fossil, named Cretosabethes primaevus, shared many traits with present-day species, and researchers concluded that the larva likely lived in tiny pools of water held by tree hollows or leaf axils—habitats modern mosquitoes still use.
The amber came from Myanmar’s Hukawng Valley, a site famous for Cretaceous fossils. Scientists called the find a rare stroke of luck because resin typically traps land or flying insects; for an aquatic larva to be preserved, a drop of resin had to fall directly into a puddle before hardening.
Microscopic study placed Cretosabethes primaevus within Sabethini, a tribe that includes many living mosquitoes in tropical America, Asia, and Africa. Earlier Cretaceous mosquito fossils belonged to the extinct lineage Burmaculicinae and looked very different, so the new larva suggests that extinct and modern mosquitoes coexisted almost 100 million years ago.
“Our results provide strong indications that mosquitoes had already diversified in the Jurassic period and that the morphology of their larvae has remained remarkably similar for almost 100 million years,” said André Amaral of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, according to CNN Indonesia. Amaral added that the larva probably swam and breathed just as mosquitoes do today.
Before this find, the oldest mosquito fossils were adults of roughly the same age, but their immature stages were unknown. The discovery fills that gap and supports molecular studies that place mosquito origins more than 200 million years ago. “The absence of direct evidence kept the hypothesis open to debate,” noted the research team.
The fossil’s posture and respiratory structures point to still-water environments such as phytotelmata—water-filled plant cavities—indicating that mosquitoes have exploited these niches since the Cretaceous. Close anatomical comparison showed that nearly every feature, from mouth brushes to abdominal hooks, matches those of modern Sabethini larvae, underscoring the group’s long-term morphological stability.
By establishing the new genus and species Cretosabethes primaevus, researchers highlighted both its ancient age and its striking similarity to living relatives.
Assisted by a news-analysis system.