First Mosquitoes Ever Found in Iceland

Iceland, long considered one of the last mosquito-free zones on Earth, has officially lost that status. For the first time, mosquitoes have been found in the country following an unusually warm spring.

BBC reports that nature enthusiast Bjorn Hjaltason made the discovery while observing moths in a glacial valley southwest of Reykjavik. “I could tell right away that this was something I had never seen before,” he wrote on Facebook.

Scientists later confirmed the insects as Culiseta annulata, a mosquito species common in Europe and North Africa and capable of surviving cold winters.

Iceland’s chilly climate and lack of standing water had long kept mosquitoes away, making it one of only two mosquito-free regions in the world, alongside Antarctica. But this year’s record-breaking warmth has changed that.

In May, temperatures topped 20°C (68°F) for ten straight days, and the country hit a new record high of 26.6°C (79.8°F). Experts say climate change is making such extremes more frequent, threatening delicate Arctic ecosystems.