Time to add a new letter to the ever-expanding LGBTQ+ acronym: M for mosquito.

Then again, mosquitos could simply fall under the trans umbrella, considering a viral video of a genetically-modified female mosquito has social media wondering if the entire insect family’s egg has just been cracked.

The video sees a female mosquito attempting to bite a human, but its proboscis can’t break through the skin. The clip’s caption from X account @Rainmaker1973 explains the situation: “Using the CRISPR technique, it’s possible to genetically modify mosquitoes by disabling a gene in females, so that their proboscis turns male, making them unable to pierce human skin.”

Despite sounding like sci-fi, the technology isn’t new. It was introduced 10 years ago in 2014 and applied to mosquitos’ so-called doublesex gene in 2018, where researchers found it could cause populations to die out within seven to 11 generations.

It does raise some ethical concerns: yes, mosquitoes spread disease and are major annoyances, but they’re also ecologically important. Is it the place of humans to decide whether or not an entire species should survive? And how might the technology be used on other species — including humans — in the future?

Beyond those questions, of course, the technology also resonated with trans folks across social media who were happy to welcome mosquitos to the queer family (or to smite them with gender dysphoria — it all depends how you look at it).

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