Just a little pinprick – the History, Natural History, and The Natural History Museums, London collections of Mosquitoes

The relationship between mosquitoes and humans has been a long and interwoven one. Pliny wrote about them in The Natural History, his encyclopaedic tome. As he describes the body and workings of a mosquito, he highlights that although small they appear to have all the components necessary to carry out their sangivorous behaviour. Indeed, these species have evolved to become some of the most adept in obtaining a blood meal. In this talk I will race through time, following the advances that both the mosquitoes, how they evolved and radiated, and ourselves, in identifying and studying them, have made. I will also look at how the Natural History Museum in London, has contributed on this path of knowledge and ponder about what is next for the mosquitoes and museum collections.