Ancient origin of an urban underground mosquito
Understanding 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, <i>Culex pipiens</i> form <i>molestus</i>, also known as the London Underground mosquito. Population genomic analysis of ~350 contemporary and historical samples counters the popular hypothesis that <i>molestus</i> originated belowground in London <200 years ago. Instead, we show that <i>molestus</i> first adapted to human environments aboveground in the Mediterranean or Middle East over the course of more than 1000 years, possibly in association with ancient agricultural civilizations of the Middle East. Our results highlight the role of early human society in priming taxa for contemporary urban evolution. They also provide insight into whether and how <i>molestus</i> contributes to West Nile virus transmission in modern cities.
Authors
- Tong Mu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2686-0725)
- Katie Mellor (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4054-5975)
- Krisztián Mágori (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2288-835X)
- Mine Altinli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8557-9442)
- Lilit Babayan
- António Paulo Gouveia de Almeida (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0751-4488)
- Debora Diaz
- Fabrizio Montarsi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5004-5763)
- Elke Zimmermann
- Abdullah Hamad (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4677-7686)
- Vivek Raman
- Maureen Coetzee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2019-866X)
- Heather M. Ward
- Ann‐Christin Honnen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4355-7231)
- Bulent Alten
- M. V. Fedorova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1232-1624)
- Haoués Alout (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7917-2697)
- Rossella Panarese (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8931-5126)
- Andrew J. Mackay (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2924-9657)
- Gordeev Mi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9031-6655)
- Marc F. Ngangué
- Nataša Bušić (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-0475-2660)
- Ting‐Di Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6398-0363)
- Saïd Chaouki Boubidi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-3223-0890)
- Jenny C. Hesson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2489-4400)
- Natasha M. Agramonte (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6247-3837)
- Matthew L. Aardema (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7206-6311)
- Claudia Paredes‐Esquivel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9196-3069)
- Babak Ebrahimi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1363-2608)
- Daniel Bravo‐Barriga (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3481-7310)
- Kaifeng Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8784-0365)
- Laura Vavassori (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5038-1361)
- Fabien Aubry (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7733-7694)
- Ary Faraji (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7372-0346)
- Chantal B. F. Vogels (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0027-6480)
- Tim W. R. Möhlmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0351-0407)
- Marko Klemenčić
- Carla Mestre
- Hector C. Miranda (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2680-0308)
- Kyoko Futami (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6159-9975)
- Diégo Ayala (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4726-580X)
- Alice Namias (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4590-2879)
- Alessandra della Torre (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7054-0027)
- Nathalie Smitz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5155-0801)
- Wim Van Bortel
- Stephen Fricker
- Işık Ünlü (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5363-9954)
- Francis Schaffner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9166-7617)
- Jan O. Lundström (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4152-2556)
- Ira Ben-Avi
- Sarah Delacour‐Estrella (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7046-2997)
- Serena E. Dool (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4728-4154)
- Stefanos S. Andreadis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5440-5316)
- Kimberly A. Foss
- Soukaina Arich (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3838-333X)
- G Satta (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0245-7544)
- Maria V. Sharakhova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5790-3548)
- Nil Rahola (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4067-6438)
- Raouf Amara Korba (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5421-3605)
- Constantianus J. M. Koenraadt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7861-8781)
- Carla Maia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2545-7686)
- Petra Korlević (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5418-5587)
- Mark Christian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1616-4179)
- Michaël Luciano Tantely (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4658-6372)
- Laor Orshan
- Ute Radespiel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0814-2404)
- Hans‐Peter Fuehrer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4178-0133)
- Dušan Petrić (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8454-4341)
- Isra Deblauwe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7268-8965)
- Ivy Ng’iru (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4766-6251)
- Allon Bear
- Filiz Günay (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2583-6264)
- Noah H. Rose (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7129-4753)
- Emad I.M. Khater (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7510-6294)
- Nediljko Landeka
- Linda Kothera (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8593-9134)
- Benjamin L. Rice (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4844-0323)
- Enrih Merdić (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5597-8706)
- Rasha S. Azrag (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8222-7441)
- Laura Jones
- Nadja C. Wipf (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2045-1410)
- Dmitry A. Karagodin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6413-7928)
- Anna G. Bega
- Yukiko Higa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0920-5307)
- Ryan E. Tokarz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0340-7848)
- Simon Carpenter (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5775-045X)
- Rafael Márquez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2070-860X)
- Kyoko Sawabe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6877-2010)
- Yuki Haba (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2767-5457)
- Rubén Bueno‐Marí (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4898-8519)
- Katrien De Wolf (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9255-913X)
- Mylène Weill (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4043-1601)
- Joshua B. Benoit (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4018-3513)
- Martina Miterpáková (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3742-948X)
- Beniamino Caputo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5650-8773)
- Rebekah J. McMinn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2513-4190)
- Jiménez Mendoza
- Enas H. Ghallab (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6760-5571)
- Jun Hang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6597-7045)
- Angela Monica Ionică (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1438-2498)
- William R. Conner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9407-6038)
- Caitlin MacIntyre (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1907-7791)
- Dino J. Martins (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1581-1642)
- Jennifer West (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7722-8458)
- Christopher M. Hardy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0364-9756)
- Eva María Frontera Carrión (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0222-7850)
- K Schultz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7041-1700)
- Nohal Élissa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6191-3677)
- Bryan D. Lessard (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6113-0576)
- Frederik Kiene
- Steven T. Peper (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2260-7669)
- Michael Hay Reiskind (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7307-9416)
- Ana Margarida Alho (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7374-2270)
- Anton V. Moskaev (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0592-3691)
- Anuarbek K. Sibataev (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3434-6590)
- Sarah S. Wheeler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3654-5235)
- Enkelejda Velo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7283-2541)
- Dina M. Fonseca (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4726-7100)
- Liora Studentsky (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1469-4301)
- Goran Vignjević (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7222-6768)
- Mihaela Kavran (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5210-9727)
- Shinji Kasai
- Megan L. Fritz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0472-4877)
- María José Afonso (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2546-1511)
- Christopher H. Lee
- C. Lorna Culverwell (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0755-5079)
- Ignacio Ruiz‐Arrondo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8198-8118)
- John Albright
- Mathieu Sicard (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3692-0039)
- Aleksandra Ignjatović‐Ćupina (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7045-6896)
- C. A. Malcolm (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9127-8707)
- Louis Lambrechts (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5958-2138)
- Frank W. Avila (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7278-0646)
- Elena Carretón (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6509-910X)
- Christos G. Spanoudis
- Carolyn S. McBride (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8898-1768)
- Milehna M. Guarido (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0737-1483)
- David M. Greer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2026-8333)
- Martin Gschwind (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9008-9130)
- José Antonio Oteo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7080-6542)
- Ilias Kioulos
- Tatiana Șuleșco (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8287-1461)
- Haykuhi Vardanyan
- Johana Medina
- Caio M B França (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5056-7983)
- Colince Kamdem (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5076-1340)
- María Teresa Novo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0484-3374)
- Cipriano Foxi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1089-7574)
- Pierrick Labbé (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0806-1919)
- Ryan C. Smith (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0245-2265)
- Gregory S. White
- Nataša Turić (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8814-8138)
- Carina Zittra (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8963-6421)
- Chris Stone (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9535-2583)
- Sahar Ahmed Baker Fallatah
- Erica McAlister (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8558-3510)
- Viktória Čabanová (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8725-9362)
- Marietjie Venter (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2696-824X)
- Melissa Uhran
- Arielle Arsenault‐Benoit (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2976-2100)
- Mara Lawniczak (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3006-2080)
- Teoh Guat Ney
- Evan Smith (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7453-2075)
- Nadja Reissen
- Annette Klein (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1577-1759)
- Molly Schumer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2075-5668)
- Mouhamadou Chouaïbou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6587-1611)
- M’hammed Sarih (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4375-0077)
- Lusine Paronyan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5394-2104)
- Ana Klobučar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3464-6830)
- Kun‐Hsien Tsai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6154-113X)
- Е. В. Шайкевич (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6504-5547)
- Vitor L. dos Anjos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9389-7774)
- Emily Ferrill
- Heung-Chul Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7167-2045)
- Vincent Robert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1738-1842)
- Hany A. Kamal
- Yoshio Tsuda (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5412-5752)
- Romain Girod (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0277-6809)
- Norbert Becker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4536-4257)
- Reem A. Masri
- Christina M. Holzapfel
- William E. Bradshaw
- Célestine Atyame
- Igor V. Sharakhov
- Përparim Kadriaj
- Anton Cornel
- W A Nazni (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2153-0783)
- Yasushi Otsuka
- Erin Knutson
- Pauline Kreienbühl
- Itay Lachmi
- Ignacio Leycegui
- Yoav Lustigman
- Gillian McDivitt
- Vincent Anghel
- Stacey Mesler
- Kervin Pilapil
- Cristina Pou-Barreto
- Sebastien J. Puechmaille
- Hamadouche Redouane
- Ryan Salamat
- Amy Salamone
- Nader Shatara
- Nicolas Soriano
- La K. Thao
- Noor Tietze
- Tatsiana Volkava
- Sophia Bejarano
- Brittany Cabeje
- Maria V. Cardo
- Brittany Deegan
- Sisay Dugassa
- Samar Y. M. Eisa
- Eran Haklay
- Jacob W. Hartle
Institutions
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US)
- L. N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University (KZ)
- Kagoshima University (JP)
- Ain Shams University (EG)
- Agricultural University of Athens (GR)
- Southern Nazarene University (US)
- Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ES)
- Uppsala University (SE)
- University of Medicine Tirana (AL)
- Washington State Department of Health (US)
- The Pirbright Institute (GB)
- Royal Museum for Central Africa (BE)
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US)
- Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (AU)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- University of Vienna (AT)
- Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (FR)
- Natural History Museum (GB)
- University of Helsinki (FI)
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute (US)
- North Carolina State University (US)
- University of Hertfordshire (GB)
- Mercer University (US)
- University of Khartoum (SD)
- University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna (AT)
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (AR)
- National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (BY)
- Inserm (FR)
- Institut Pasteur (FR)
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (CH)
- Eastern Washington University (US)
- École Pratique des Hautes Études (FR)
- University of San Diego (US)
- The University of Texas at El Paso (US)
- Montclair State University (US)
- National Taiwan University (TW)
- University of South Australia (AU)
- University of Novi Sad (RS)
- Iowa State University (US)
- Antelope Valley College (US)
- University of Oregon (US)
- University of Basel (CH)
- Institut Universitaire de France (FR)
- University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation (DE)
- University of the Witwatersrand (ZA)
- Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (GB)
- National Research Tomsk State University (RU)
- Université de Montpellier (FR)
- Princeton University (US)
- University of Zurich (CH)
- Université Paris Cité (FR)
- Slovak Academy of Sciences (SK)
- University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca (RO)
- Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (GR)
- Heidelberg University (DE)
- Universidad de Zaragoza (ES)
- Antelope Valley Hospital (US)
- Hospital Universitario de Canarias (ES)
- Kern Medical Center (US)
- Government of Western Australia Department of Health (AU)
- Onderstepoort Veterinary Academic Hospital (ZA)
- Wellcome Sanger Institute (GB)
- Israel Ministry of Health (IL)
- Miami-Dade Public Library System (US)
- Yale University (US)
- Universidad de Antioquia (CO)
- University of Nebraska at Kearney (US)
- Universität Greifswald (DE)
- National Institute of Infectious Diseases (JP)
- Institute of Public Health (AL)
- Maladies Infectieuses et Vecteurs: Écologie, Génétique, Évolution et Contrôle (FR)
- Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR)
- Australian National Insect Collection (AU)
- Animal, Santé, Territoires, Risques et Ecosystèmes (FR)
- Hrvatski zavod za javno zdravstvo (HR)
- San Francisco Department of Public Health (US)
- Institute of Parasitology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SK)
- Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (FR)
- DeKalb County Board of Health (US)
- Ministry of Environmental Protection (IL)
- Central Research Institute of Epidemiology (RU)
- Ministère des Solidarités et de la Santé (FR)
- Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville (GA)
- Institute of Cytology and Genetics (RU)
- Scientific Center of RAS in Chernogolovka (RU)
- Institute Malgache De Recherches Appliquées (MG)
- Schaffner (Switzerland) (CH)
- Biomedical Research Center of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SK)
- S.Seifullin Kazakh Agro Technical University (KZ)
- Southern Nevada Health District (US)
- Vector (United States) (US)
- Swiss Centre for Scientific Research (CI)
- Ministry of Education and Science (AM)
- Institute for Medical Research (MY)
- Israel Antiquities Authority (IL)
- Institut Pasteur de Madagascar (MG)
- University Mohamed El Bachir El Ibrahimi of Bordj Bou Arreridj (DZ)
- Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (BG)
- Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sardegna (IT)
- Andrija Stampar Teaching Institute of Public Health (HR)
- Federation of Greek Mariculture (GR)
- Hospital San Pedro (ES)
- Center for Biomedical Research of La Rioja (ES)
- Consolidated Mosquito Abatement District (US)
- Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie (IT)
- Vavilov Institute of General Genetics (RU)
- Mpala Research Center and Wildlife Foundation (KE)
- Institut Pasteur du Maroc (MA)
- Processus Infectieux en Milieu Insulaire Tropical (RE)
- Institut Pasteur d'Algérie (DZ)
- Moscow State University of Psychology & Education (RU)
- Kern Community College District (US)
- Santa Clara County Behavioral Health Services (US)
- Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CN)
- Direção Geral do Património Cultural (PT)
- Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR)
- Nagasaki University (JP)
- National Institute for Communicable Diseases
- Addis Ababa University (ET)
- Universitat de les Illes Balears (ES)
- University of Osijek (HR)
- University of Córdoba (ES)
- University of Bari Aldo Moro (IT)
- Universitat Politècnica de València (ES)
- University of Cincinnati (US)
- Hacettepe University (TR)
- University of Maryland, College Park (US)
- University of Pretoria (ZA)
- Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (SA)
- Instituut voor Tropische Geneeskunde (BE)
- Universidad de Extremadura (ES)
- University of California, Davis (US)
- Virginia Tech (US)
- Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (GR)
- Wageningen University & Research (NL)
- Colorado State University (US)
- Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (US)
- Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (DE)
- Stanford University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Science
- Published
- 2025-10-23
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ady4515
- Citations
- 6
- Primary Topic
- Mosquito-borne diseases and control
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 11.27