Mosquitoes spotted in Iceland for the first time since record-breaking heat

Mosquitoes have been spotted in Iceland for the first time after the country experienced record-breaking heat this spring.

Insect enthusiast Bjorn Hjaltason encountered mosquitoes several nights last week while using wine-soaked rope to monitor the moths, local media reported.

Mr Hjaltason found two female mosquitoes and one male which was later confirmed to be Culiseta annulata, one of the few species that can successfully survive the winter.

Before the discovery, Iceland was one of only two mosquito-free havens in the world, partly due to the cold climate. Antarctica is the only recorded mosquito-free area.

These mosquitoes were found in Kjós, a glacial valley southwest of Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland.

Icelandic media say Mr Hjaltason shared news of his discovery with pictures of the insect on a Facebook page for local wildlife, describing it as “a strange fly on a red wine ribbon”.

“I could immediately tell it was something I had never seen before,” he said in the post, a screenshot of which was shared by Iceland’s Morgunblaðið news site, adding, “It looks like the last fortress has fallen.”

Mr. Hjaltason sent the insects to the Icelandic Institute of Natural History to be identified, where entomologist Matthias Alfredsson confirmed his suspicions.

The species is common in parts of Europe and North Africa, but it’s not clear how it got to Iceland, Alfredsson told CNN.

Iceland’s cold climate and lack of clean water in which insects can breed are key contributors to the country’s previous mosquito shortage, a global population review says.

But this year the country broke many records for high temperature.

Typically, Iceland rarely experiences temperatures above 20C (68F) in May, and when it does, heat waves don’t last more than two to three days, its Met Office notes. The limit was exceeded for 10 consecutive days this year in various parts of the country.

Iceland also saw its hottest day in May, with temperatures reaching 26.6C (79.8F) at Eglisstyr Airport.

A June study published by the Global Heat Health Information Network noted that such changes could have “significant” impacts on fragile ecosystems, which have adapted to cooler climates and are sensitive to temperature changes.

Last year was the world’s hottest year on record, and the UN’s climate agency has established that human influence has “unequivocally” warmed the atmosphere, oceans and land.

“Further monitoring will be needed in the spring to see if the mosquito species has really become established in Iceland,” Alfredsson added.

Hjaltason, meanwhile, speculates on the origin of the patterns he observed.

“One always suspects Gründertangi – it’s only six kilometers from me, and things often come with ships and containers, so something like this is likely to happen,” he told Morgenbladi.

“But if three of them come straight into my garden, there might be more.”