Mosquitoes Found In Iceland For The First Time, Global Warming Effect?

JAKARTA - For the first time in history, mosquitoes were found in Iceland, a country that has been known to be free from blood clots.

This discovery surprised insect experts as well as worried, as this signifies the real impact of global warming that makes Iceland's climate warmer and more mosquito-friendly.

Previously, Iceland was known as one of the two countries in the world that had absolutely no mosquitoes. Now, the only area on earth that is still free from mosquitoes is Space.

Reporting from the New York Post, this discovery was first announced by a citizen scientist named Bj Sembuh Hjaltason through the Facebook Insections in Iceland group.

In his upload, Hjaltason wrote that "the last fort has fallen". This refers to the history of Iceland, which mosquitoes have not been able to live in because of its extreme temperatures.

Hjaltason tells of the first time he sees a strange insect on October 16. At dusk, it sticks to an insect trap ribbon that is usually used to pull the knife.

"I immediately became suspicious and immediately arrested him. It turned out to be a female mosquito," he told Iceland Review.

He added that three other mosquitoes appeared around his garden and there may have been more in the area.

The insects were then sent to Matthwas Alfrewasson, an entomologist from the Icelandic Institute of Natural Sciences. After being researched, the mosquito was confirmed as a species of Cullista annullata, a type of mosquito known to be resistant to cold temperatures.

It is not yet known exactly how these mosquitoes got to Iceland. However, Hjaltason suspects they may have come from the Grundartangi industrial area, where ships and containers often come carrying various items (likely also insects).

Although Iceland is known to have a harsh climate, scientists think the country actually has a suitable environment for mosquitoes such as large swamps and ponds, so they can breed.

Concerns are increasing as Iceland is currently heating up four times faster than the average region in the northern hemisphere. This warming causes glaciers to melt and allows fish from warm waters to migrate to Icelandic waters.

Even worse, the Annulata Culista species is known to be able to survive extreme cold weather. They can live in a large area that includes North Africa, Europe, and northern Asia.

Experts suspect this mosquito can survive Iceland's winter by hiding in warehouses, barns, or basements.

Even so, Hjaltason later admitted his statement about the last fort' had fallen may have been too much.

He said time would prove whether these mosquitoes could actually settle and survive their first winter in Iceland.

But what happened in Iceland is just one example of the global spread of mosquitoes due to climate change. In recent years, tropical disease-carrying mosquitoes such as dengue, Zika virus, and chikungu have started migrating to areas that were previously too cold.

For example, recently a resident intensive County, New York was reported to have tested positive for its chikungu virus, the state's first local transmission case.

This phenomenon serves as a reminder of climate change not only melting the ice at the poles, but also paves the way for new threats from small creatures that we consider to be living only in the tropics.