Mosquitoes began biting hominins 1.8 million years ago: study, Pg10

Key Highlights:

• Scientists studied mosquito larvae of 11 species in Sundaland (Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Borneo) from 1992-2020.
• The study aimed to understand the evolutionary origins of anthropophily (affinity for humans) in mosquitoes.
• Mosquitoes started feeding on humans around 1.8 million years ago during the Pleistocene epoch in Southeast Asia.
• Mosquito-borne diseases cause over 6 lakh deaths annually worldwide, according to the WHO.

Detailed Insights:

• The establishment of anthropophily in multiple mosquito species may be due to independent evolution after modern humans arrived in Southeast Asia 76,000-63,000 years ago.
• Homo erectus presence in China dates back 1.6-1.7 million years ago, potentially even 2.4 million years ago, making the timeline of hominin colonization in Southeast Asia contentious.
• Transition from open forests to savannahs in the Pliocene epoch may have triggered an adaptive shift in mosquitoes to feed on ground-dwelling species, including humans.
• The malaria-causing mosquito group, including Anopheles leucosphyrus, comprises around 20 species in South and Southeast Asia, with varying host preferences.

Scientific/Technical Concepts Involved:

• Anthropophily: The preference or affinity of an organism, such as a mosquito, for humans as a food source.
• Pleistocene Epoch: A geological epoch that lasted from about 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago.
• Pliocene Epoch: The epoch that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58 million years before present.
• Phylogenomics: The intersection of evolution and genomics, involving the use of genomic data to understand evolutionary relationships.