Based on recent genetic analysis, the deadly saga started when early hominins migrated into Southeast Asia around 1.8 million years ago. To investigate the issue, biologists sequenced DNA from 38 mosquitoes spanning 11 different species in the Leucosphyrus group collected from Southeast Asia between 1992 and 2020. The study’s authors noted that this aligns with paleoanthropologists’ earliest proposed date for Homo erectus arriving in Sundaland about 1.8 million years ago. Importantly, in order to chow down on humans, mosquitoes need to know how to find them. For this to happen, however, the Sundaland region needed a significant H. erectus population about 1.8 million years ago.