Mosquitoes are one of the most pervasive pests on Earth. Over the species’ 217-million-year history, they have spread far and wide, with only the frigid temperatures of Antarctica and some parts of the Arctic keeping them at bay.

As global temperatures rise, that’s beginning to change. Iceland, formerly one of the last mosquito-free places on the planet, just recorded its first sightings of the biting insect. This week, insect enthusiast Björn Hjaltason discovered one male and two female specimens in his garden in Kiðafell, Kjós and shared his find in the Facebook group Insects in Iceland .

“I could tell right away that this was something I had never seen before,” he told the Icelandic newspaper Morgunblaðið.

Iceland’s rapidly changing climate

Hjaltason collected the mosquitoes and

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