The discovery comes amid record-breaking temperatures this spring, intensifying concerns about how global warming may be transforming Iceland’s fragile ecosystem.
Local insect enthusiast Bjorn Hjaltason made the breakthrough last week while observing moths using wine-soaked ropes. He identified two female and one male mosquito, later confirmed by experts at the Icelandic Institute of Natural History as Culiseta annulata — one of the few mosquito species capable of surviving cold winters.
The insects were found in Kjós, a glacial valley southwest of Reykjavik. “I could tell right away that this was something I had never seen before,” Hjaltason wrote on Facebook, adding that “the last fortress seems to have fallen.”
Entomologist Matthías Alfreðsson, who verified the identification, said the species is common across Europe and North Africa, though it remains unclear how the mosquitoes reached Iceland. He noted that researchers will monitor the site next spring to determine if the species can establish a permanent population.
Experts point to Iceland’s unusually warm May, when temperatures reached 26.6°C (79.8°F) — the highest ever recorded in the country — as a possible factor behind the arrival. Typically, Icelandic heatwaves last only two or three days, but this year, temperatures above 20°C persisted for more than a week.
Hjaltason suggested the insects may have arrived through shipping routes or imported containers, noting, “If three of them came straight into my garden, there were probably more.”
The discovery has sparked debate among climate scientists, who warn that Iceland’s warming trend could enable previously absent species — including mosquitoes — to survive and reproduce, altering the island’s delicate environmental balance.