Amber Fossil Discredits Mosquito Evolution
What they found
was not evidence for
evolution at all
Evidence Presented for Mosquito Evolution
Turns Out to Support Creation
Fossil in Amber Determined to Be Similar to a Modern Mosquito
by Jerry Bergman, PhD
Amber consists of fossilized tree resin, often from conifers (needle-leaf, cone-bearing, mostly evergreen trees). Resin is a thick, sticky substance that conifer tree cells produce to seal wounds and protect themselves against insect pests by entombing them. When the resin hardens through polymerization and pressure, it is called amber. Tens of thousands of insects have been discovered entombed in amber. Some of the largest finds include over 3,500 species from Baltic amber, over 1,000 fossil species (including insects and spiders) from Dominican amber, and over 700 species from Indian amber deposits. According to evolutionists, the amber-entombed fossils date back as far as 230 million years.[1]
Amber is an extremely valuable medium for paleontologists because it preserves ancient life-forms, especially insects, with microscopic fidelity. It contains a goldmine of fossils—creatures captured when alive, encased in a plastic preservative and frozen in time. If insect evolution truly occurred, the fossil record should bear unmistakable witness to it. With tens of thousands of well-preserved specimens dating back some 230 million years (according to evolutionary timelines), clear transitional evidence should be abundant. Yet what has been consistently found in amber is not evidence of evolution, but rather clear evidence of a lack of evolution, namely (unexpected) stasis.
The latest example, which is reviewed below, is a mosquito larva that was exquisitely preserved in Myanmar amber. As one authority wrote: the “mosquito is a fascinating product of evolution,”[2] but what animal they evolved from is very problematic. The many examples of mosquitoes trapped in amber, as far as can be determined, are all fully modern.[3]
A picture of a Chaoboridae, commonly known as phantom midges or glassworms due to their transparent body. It should be obvious that they are dramatically different from mosquitoes. From Wikimedia Commons.
On the Evolution of Mosquitoes
One theory is that the evolutionary ancestors of mosquitoes are phantom midges (Chaoboridae). Some studies have challenged this view, suggesting that the common ancestor of mosquitoes was actually a true fly (order Diptera, meaning two wings) that emerged around 200 million years ago.[4] Thus, according to this hypothesis, mosquitoes should belong to the order of true flies. Like other true flies, they have only one pair of flight wings. Their hindwings are small, club-like structures called halteres that help them balance during flight.
Early mosquitoes were theorized to be nectar-feeders, eventually evolving the ability to feed on blood.[5] Feeding on blood, evolutionists postulate, became established around 100 million years ago, though the exact timing is still debated.
A mosquito found in Baltic amber. Note the dramatic morphological difference between the mosquito and the glassworm. From Wikimedia Commons.
What Was Discovered
This mosquito larva fossil, found in amber by researchers at Ludwig Maximilian University (Munich, Germany), is said to be 99 million years old and represents the oldest known specimen of its kind. The LMU team interpreted it to be a new species from a new genus, Cretosabethes primaevus, belonging to the Sabethini group of mosquitoes.
Drawing of the allegedly “99-million-year-old” mosquito larva. Note the obvious similarity to the modern mosquito larva.
The problem for evolutionists with this allegedly oldest known mosquito larva is that it “is very similar to modern species – in contrast to all other fossil discoveries of mosquitoes from this period.”[6] Every other mosquito fossil discovered from this period has been classified within the Burmaculicinae group, an extinct subfamily of the true fly family Culicidae.
A modern mosquito larva. From Wikimedia Commons.
The LMU team also claimed that this 99 million year old fossil of a mosquito larva in amber with a modern type of morphology “sheds light on the evolutionary history of mosquitoes.”[7] The authors note that their “discovery provides new insights into the early evolution and ecology of mosquitoes.”[8]
In reality, however, the find creates major problems for evolution. As previously mentioned, the amber specimen reveals not evidence of evolution, but of its absence—demonstrating remarkable stasis. The LMU team added that the similarity was so great that “This new fossil indicates that extinct forms of mosquitoes coexisted with modern ones during the Cretaceous in southern Gondwana.”[9]
What they found was not evidence for mosquito evolution at all. The fossilized larva was simply another variety of mosquito—virtually identical to those living today. Its close similarity to modern species underscores the problem of interpreting data through an evolutionary framework rather than following the evidence itself.
Is It Really 99 Million Years Old?
The dating evolutionists use is also problematic:
A fresh revision of the mosquito family tree suggests that the insects are 100 million years younger than previously thought…. The study reshuffled the long-accepted mosquito family tree and found that modern mosquitoes emerged during the Late Cretaceous period, about 73 million years ago, and around 100 million years later than previously thought.”[10]
The study directed by Mac Pierce of the Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, School of Public Health at the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, remarked that
“mosquito evolution is very different than previously thought, and that mosquitoes are a relatively young group of organisms.”[11]
Watch and share the Short Reel about this article! Click to view it now.
Summary
News headlines are frequently crafted to capture attention rather than to ensure accuracy. In this case, the headline, “Fossil reveals early evolution of mosquitoes,” was misleading. Instead of providing evidence for evolution, the fossil actually provided evidence for creation. A more accurate headline would read, “New Find Provides Evidence for Creation.” However, such a title would be problematic for the secular scientific establishment, so the headline is written instead to imply support for evolution. Nonetheless, these reports illustrate that much of what is called “evolutionary research” is, in fact, largely guesswork and the interpretation presented is heavily shaped by the evolutionary paradigm.
References
[1] Grimaldi, David, “Scientists Find Oldest Amber Arthropods on Record,” https://www.amnh.org/explore/news-blogs/amber-arthropods-discovery, 2012.
[2] Wilkerson, Richard C., et al., Mosquitoes of the World (Volumes 1 and 2), Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD, 2021.
[3] Grimaldi, David, Amber, Henry Abrams, New York, NY, p. 115, 1996; Poinar, George, and Roberta Poinar, The Quest for Life in Amber, Addison Wesley, Reading, MA, p. 154, 1994.
[4] “Current mosquitoes evolved more recently than previously thought,” Nature, https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03244-9, 10 October 2025.
[5] Coppedge, David, “Mosquitoes Developed a Taste for Human Blood Recently,”https://crev.info/2014/12/mosquito-taste-human-blood-recently/, 1 December 2014.
[6] “Fossil reveals early evolution of mosquitoes,” Ludwig Maximilian University,
https://www.lmu.de/en/newsroom/news-overview/news/fossil-reveals-early-evolution-of-mosquitoes.html, 27 October 2025.
[7] Amaral, André P., et al., “First fossil mosquito larva in 99-million-year-old amber with a modern type of morphology sheds light on the evolutionary history of mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae),” Gondwana Research 150:154-162, DOI: 10.1016/j.gr.2025.09.011, October 2025.
[8] “Fossil reveals early evolution of mosquitoes,” Ludwig Maximilian University,
https://www.lmu.de/en/newsroom/news-overview/news/fossil-reveals-early-evolution-of-mosquitoes.html, 27 October 2025.
[9] Amaral, et al., 2025.
[10] Nature. 2025. Genetic Study Rewrites Mosquito Family History. Nature. 646:519. October 16. 2025.
[11] Pierce, M. P. 2025. Phylogenomics redefines the evolutionary history of mosquitoes. PNAS. 122(42).
Dr. Jerry Bergman has taught biology, genetics, chemistry, biochemistry, anthropology, geology, and microbiology for over 40 years at several colleges and universities including Bowling Green State University, Medical College of Ohio where he was a research associate in experimental pathology, and The University of Toledo. He is a graduate of the Medical College of Ohio, Wayne State University in Detroit, the University of Toledo, and Bowling Green State University. He has over 1,900 publications in 14 languages and 40 books and monographs. His books and textbooks that include chapters that he authored are in over 1,800 college libraries in 27 countries. So far over 80,000 copies of the 60 books and monographs that he has authored or co-authored are in print. For more articles by Dr Bergman, see his Author Profile.