MOSQUITO. a slender biting dipterous fly of the family Culicidae, Especially of genus Culex, Anopheles,or Aedes

The effect of global warming may be more than warming the globe. It may create mutants of us all. Just like the tiny mosquitoes that live in the pitcher plant in Eastern North America.

Researchers at the University of Oregon in Eugene, as reported by Associated Press, said that these mosquitoes tiny fragile species that seldom bother people, are revolving in response to global warming. They tend to delay their breeding and development.

William E. Bradshaw of Oregon, the first author of the study said that the temperature changes caused by global warming are increasing the lengths of the season in which the animal can grow, develop and reproduce. "As a result, animals that reproduce later in the season have greater opportunity to leave their genes in the population," he added.

The pitcher plant mosquito, according to Bradshaw, bases its life style on the length of day. When days grow shorter, it is genetically programmed to hibernate and settles in to spend the winter comfortably protected inside the pitcher plant, he said.

the female mosquito punctures the skin of humans and other animals with a long proboscis to suck their blood, transmitting disease such as filariasis and malaria

However, a subgroup within the pitcher plant mosquito population has slightly different genes that cause them to develop and reproduce later in the season. Global warming, by causing a longer growing season, favors this subgroup, Bradshaw said.

"This is an important finding because it shows the genetic population of the mosquito was modified by global warming," said Marina Caillaud, a Cornell University genetic researcher who commented on Bradshaw's paper. "This suggests that this type of genetic adaption could happen to other species also."

For instance, she said, other mosquitoes that are pests to human might adapt so that the troublesome mosquito season could grow longer and expand further north.