An international research consortium, including scientists from the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM), has solved the mystery of the origins of one of the most unusual urban dwellers: the mosquito form Culex pipiens molestus, better known as the „London Underground Mosquito.“ Contrary to the long-standing belief that this subterranean mosquito evolved in London’s tube system some 200 years ago, new genomic analyses reveal: molestus emerged more than 1,000 years ago in the Mediterranean or Middle East, likely in connection with the rise of early agricultural societies. The study has been published in the journal Science.