The mosquito found in amber, as so famously portrayed in the movie Jurassic Park, is a fallacy. Not only was the mosquito portrayed (Toxorhynchites rutilus) not able to suck blood, it was also reported to be from
The mosquito found in amber, as so famously portrayed in the movie Jurassic Park, is a fallacy. Not only was the mosquito portrayed (Toxorhynchites rutilus) not able to suck blood, it was also reported to be from the Dominican Republic. The amber from the Dominican Republic happens to be only 25 million years old. The dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago.
The oldest mosquito found with features similar to today's mosquito comes from 79 million year old Canadian amber from.
Our specimen is an older sister species with more primitive features.
It is a mosquito-like scorpionfly Para Polycentropus Burmite specimen as described by Grimaldi and Rasnitsyn; AMNH BU-FB1.
To find a true mosquito in Burmite amber would be extremely rare. To read further, click here.