Evolution: Mosquito, House Fly Branched Off 220 Million Years Ago
Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - 11:32
in Biology & Nature
A paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says the mosquito branched off the same evolutionary tree as the house fly around 220 million years ago. Though only a few species of flies gain public attention - pests like house flies, March flies and mosquitoes – there are 152,000 named species of flies, representing around 10 per cent of all species on Earth. The March fly branched off some 175 million years ago, while the common house fly branched off about 50 million years ago. Flies originated in wet environments and as they evolved they adapted to feed in almost any nutrient-rich substrate in almost any environment on earth. read more