London Underground mosquito

Common card · No. 417229

The London Underground mosquito, Culex pipiens f. molestus, is a form of mosquito. It is named for its biting of people sleeping in the London Underground railway system during the Blitz, but it has a worldwide distribution and long predates the existence of the London Underground. It was first described in the 18th century based on Egyptian specimens by the biologist Peter Forsskål (1732–1763). He named it Culex molestus due to its voracious biting, but later biologists reclassified it as Culex pipiens f. molestus because there were no morphological differences between it and Culex pipiens. A study from 2004 analyzing DNA microsatellites suggested that it might be a distinct species, but a paper from 2012 reported it to be "a physiological and ecological variant of Cx. pipiens" which should not be considered a distinct species. As of 2024, the consensus among researchers is that it is not a distinct species, but a form of Culex pipiens, which is often referred to as Culex pipiens f....

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