Three species of Cretaceous mosquito are currently known, Burmaculex antiquus and Priscoculex burmanicus are known from Burmese amber from Myanmar, which dates to the earliest part of the Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous, around 99 million years ago. The oldest known mosquitoes are known from amber dating to the Late Cretaceous.
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The adult females of most species have tube-like mouthparts (called a proboscis) that can pierce the skin of a host and feed on blood, which contains protein and iron needed to produce eggs. These larvae are important food sources for many freshwater animals, such as dragonfly nymphs, many fish, and some birds such as ducks. Eggs are laid on the water surface they hatch into motile larvae that feed on aquatic algae and organic material. The mosquito life cycle consists of egg, larva, pupa, and adult stages. Mosquitoes have a slender segmented body, one pair of wings, one pair of halteres, three pairs of long hair-like legs, and elongated mouthparts. The word "mosquito" (formed by mosca and diminutive -ito) is Spanish and Portuguese for "little fly". Mosquitoes are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin culex meaning " gnat").