Mosquitoes Hitch Airplane Rides, Threatening Galapagos Wildlife

Bloomberg reports that "mosquitoes are riding airplanes to the Galapagos Islands from the South American mainland, threatening to bring new illnesses to an archipelago whose unique wildlife inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution."

A World Heritage site, these 19 islands and the surrounding marine reserve have been called a unique ‘living museum and showcase of evolution’. Avian malaria is just one of the threats that may be brought by invading mosquitoes, and the birds of the islands are especially important both to the ecology of the islands and to the history of science.