Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 10, 2026

Burmaculex

Burmaculex is an extinct genus of mosquito found fossilised in Burmese amber dating from the Cretaceous period, believed to date from 95 million years ago. The genus and species were described in 2004 by Art Borkent and David A. Grimaldi.

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Jun 10, 2026
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Burmaculex
Temporal range: Cretaceous,
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Family: Culicidae
Genus: †Burmaculex
Borkent & Grimaldi, 2004
Type species
Burmaculex antiquus
Borkent & Grimaldi, 2004
Species
  • Burmaculex antiquus Borkent & Grimaldi, 2004
  • Burmaculex edwardsi Szadziewski et al., 2024
  • Burmaculex harbachi Szadziewski et al., 2024
  • Burmaculex porczynskii Szadziewski et al., 2024

Burmaculex is an extinct genus of mosquito found fossilised in Burmese amber dating from the Cretaceous period, believed to date from 95 million years ago.1 The genus and species were described in 2004 by Art Borkent and David A. Grimaldi.2

Cladogram after Azar et al. (2023),3 although Libanoculex is later confirmed as member of Chaoboridae and not a mosquito.4

Corethrellidae

Chaoboridae

†Libanoculex intermedius (Lebanese amber)

†Burmaculex antiquus Borkent & Grimaldi, 2004 (Burmese amber)2

Crown Culicidae

References

References

  1. Quentin D. Wheeler (6 December 2012). "New to nature No 95: Culiseta lemniscata". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  2. Borkent, Art; Grimaldi, David A. (1 September 2004). "The Earliest Fossil Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae), in Mid-Cretaceous Burmese Amber". Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 97 (5): 882–888. doi:10.1603/0013-8746(2004)097[0882:TEFMDC]2.0.CO;2. S2CID 85738337.
  3. Azar, Dany; Nel, André; Huang, Diying; Engel, Michael S. (December 2023). "The earliest fossil mosquito". Current Biology. 33 (23): 5240–5246.e2. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2023.10.047.
  4. Harbach, Ralph E. (2024-03-12). "Libanoculex intermedius is not a mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae): It is a chaoborid (Chaoboridae)". Zootaxa. 5424 (1): 139–144. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5424.1.9. ISSN 1175-5334.