Malaria Vectors
Anopheles culucifacies, Giles, 1901:
Adults of A. culicifacies rest in large numbers in small dark spaces in houses and cowsheds during the day. In some localities females are zoophilic, feeding actively on cattle and birds at dusk, but in most areas they prefer man as a host. Flight ranges from 1½ to 1¾ miles have been observed.
Fresh, clean water attracts most ovipositing females, although immature stages occasionally are found in brackish edges, such as irrigation ditches, seepages, pools, slow moving streams, canals, riverbeds, freshly formed collections of rain water in borrow pits, fallow rice fields, shallow tanks, pits and wells. This species prefers sunlight or light shade avoiding dense shade, for oviposition.
A.culicifacies is ordinarily a plains species, but it is found at moderate altitudes in the Himalayas, having been recorded up to 6,500 feet. In India it over winters as a larvae and is most prevalent from May to November. In the northern parts of that country.
Anopheles fluviatilis, James, 1902:
Females of A. fluviatilis appear to prefer houses as night time resting places but have also been found in considerable numbers in cow sheds. Two species of A. fluviatilis may exist in India. One form in the south is strongly antropophilic and feeds readily on man; the other in the north bites cattle almost exclusively. The southern form feeds from 1½ hour after dusk to midnight. Most of the females rest out of doors during the day. In a study in India few adults were found in the villages beyond 2,600 feet from their breeding places. Once they were reported at a greater distance.
Larvae inhibit pools in stream beds, slow flowing water with vegetation, leaks from springs and irrigation ditches, swamp edges, lake margins, drains, ponds and tanks. Most of the steams in which this species is found have grassy edges. In Yemen fluviatiles was observed at an elevation of about 7,300 feet in natural pools along a ditch with stone wart rushes and filamentous green algae. Although some times found in rice fields, the species does not breed prolifically there. Larvae have never been observed in large numbers. Disperse breeding over immense areas is responsible for the importance of the species
Widely distributed through out India, especially in foot-hill areas and hilly or rocky areas, this species is more common in the west than the east. At Peshawar, West Pakistan, this species has been observed from May to November with population peaks in May and June and again in November. It has been found at an elevation of 6,000 feet at Kashmir and as high as 7,500 feet at Murree. In southern India it is not normally found below 1,000 feet.
Anopheles minimus, Theobald, 1901:
Females of A.minimus are found in large numbers in houses and cattle sheds, preferring these to outside locations. They are not commonly found in jungle areas, although they may be encountered resting under secondary growth jungle. They feed readily on man and in South China and Indochina is reported to be the most anthropophilic of all Anopheline. From 93 to 97% of blooded females have been reported to contain human blood in Indochina. In some areas adults will feed on livestock if that source of food is more easily visited. In south China intermittent feeding and domestic animals has been reported from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m., the peak of biting activity occur in from 10p.m. to 2 a.m. and the adults staying inside the same shelters during the next day. Eggs are laid in largest numbers between nightfall and midnight
Larvae are found in clear, slowly running, partly shaded streams and in the clear water at the edges of swamps, irrigation channels, drains, rice fields, and borrow pits. In India this subspecies breeds in clean grassy streams and seepages, especially in some shade, during the monsoon season. In localities such as South China where it overwinters in the larval stage, immature stages collect in large masses in certain paths of mare permanent rivers and streams during the cold mines.
A.minimus minimus is abundant at low altitudes, is common at 2,000 to 3,000 feet, and has been reported at altitudes as high as 5,000 feet. In China there are 2 peaks of adult density. The first is from May to mid June at the start of rainy season, and the second in October and November, caused by renewed breeding during the light autumn rains.
Anopheles philippinensis, Ludlow, 1902:
Little is known about the habits of A.philippinensis adults. In Burma females have been collected in houses as well as in cattle sheds and stables, but in Yunnan they have never been found in human dwellings. Females are reported to be definitely anthropophilic in Bengal but predominantly zoophilic in Indochina. In Malaya swarms of males, usually 4-8 feet above the ground and not related to any ground object have been observed from shortly after sunset to complete darkness. Larvae live in large bodies of water, such as tanks, sloughs, quiescent lake margins, impounded water, large ponds, and open rush swamps, usually in rather dense vegetations
Anopheles annularis, Van der Wulp, 1884:
A.annularis rests in large numbers in cattle sheds and usually in small numbers in human habitations. In Bengal it is said to be definitely antropophilic, even though it is usually divided there in about equal proportions between houses and cattle sheds. However, through out most of the Orient it is zoophilic. In Malaya the females are principally zoophilic but will attack man readily. In Yunnan they feed on humans in large numbers. They are strong fliers usually fling a considerable distance from their breeding places. Larvae inhabit a variety of clear-water breeding places, including large ponds of fresh water that contain aquatic vegetation, rice fields, shallow vegetated margins of lakes and slowly moving streams, ditches, swamps, borrow pits, and large tanks. They appear in large numbers during the rainy season in Formosa, then become scarcer at the beginning of dry season it is found at altitudes of 5,000- 7,000 feet. It is believed to overwinter in both larval and adult stages in Northern India.
Anopheles stephensi, Liston, 1901:
Adults of A.stephensi stephensi are commonly found in houses, cowsheds, barracks and other types of man made shelters. They feed readily on man in the laboratory and in nature. They are usually difficult to find, because they hide in small, out-of-the-way places, such as them many small dark creases and crevices in the folded or crumpled cloth they flight range does not usually exceed one-half mile. Adults have been found up to 1½ mile from there nearest breeding places in Behrein near the Iraq coast.
Larvae are found in both urban and rural locations. The out standing type of breeding place consists of wells and other artificial containers, such as cisterns, water collections near buildings, flooded cellars, and bases of running fountains. In rural areas larvae are found in all sorts of breeding places containing fresh, brackish or sewage - contaminated water either in direct sun or in the shade. Pools, streambeds, slowly moving creeks, irrigation channels, drains, and miscellaneous breeding places with fresh water often contain larvae. In Iraq the breeding places consists of small, shallow, grassy pools that tend to disappear later in the summer, especially where palms are being cultivated. Larvae habitually sink deep into the water and stay submerged for long periods. In Iraq A.stephensi breeds throughout the year. It has two marked seasons of intensity, one in May and June and the other in October and November.
Anopheles sundaicus, Rodenwaldt, 1926:
Adults of A.sundaicus are anthropophilic and zoophilic and are commonly found in both cattle sheds and houses. Some feeding on animals is indicated by nearly all precipitin tests. Except in Sumatra, Java, and restricted parts of Celebes, A.sundaicus is known to breed only in brackish water. Larvae inhabit sunlit lagoons, salt-water fishponds, swamps, and polluted water on the coast, and vocationally found in clear water pools as well. In Java larvae are commonly associated with abundant green fishpond algae, such as Enteromorpha. Although larvae tolerate water with a maximum of about 3ogms of salt/liter. Deeply shaded, virgin mangroo areas are unfavourable for larval development, except where they have been cleared to admit sunlight. Larvae in fresh water inland locations in Sumatra. Java and Celibes don't differ morphologically from those in coastal brackish-water sites.
Anopheles varuna, Iyengar, 1924:
Adults of A.varuna have been captured in houses and cattle shed. In some localities females definitely prefer the blood of man; in others cattle blood is preferred. Except in India where this species most commonly breeds in dwells, larvae inhabit stagnant fresh water ponds and ditches during and shortly after the monsoon season. They are commonly collected at roadsides from small pools of storm water in borrow ditches and from slow running streams.
Anopheles jeyporiensis candidiensis, Koidzumi, James, 1902:
Females of A.candidiensis bite man readily inside houses and tents, starting about two hours after the nightfall. After feeding they rest outside and are seldom found in human habitations during the day. Typical breeding sites, especially in Indochina, are those with moving, grass-margined water. In India and China larvae are found in the grassy, shallow water in seepage areas on hillsides and in abandoned rice fields and at the grassy margins of lakes and swamps. Along the Burma-Bengal border larvae live in collections of water so thickly over grown with vegetation that they cannot be readily seen. In Assam and Burma this mosquito appears in greatest numbers during the early months of the year.
Anopheles maculates, Theobald, 1901 and var. willmorei, Jmes 1903:
Females of A.maculates feed readily on man but are also attracted to cattle. In Malaya the species appears to prefer livestock. Females are active at night and in some areas will readily enter houses. They have been trapped in bed nets during nights, especially in Philippines, and usually bite between 9p.m. to 2a.m. in Java they rest during the day in the vegetation along the banks of streams. In Formosa they have never been taken in houses, although larvae have been found near by. Swarms of maculates males have been observed in Malaya 15-20feet above the ground, females migrate great distances from summer to winter habitats. Larvae have been collected in China, Formosa and Sunda islands from riverbed pools with stony or sandy bottoms. In Malaya the favorite breeding places are drains, pools, seepages, springs, rice fields, marshes, borrow pits, lake margins, and reservoirs. Fresh water is generally preferred, but larvae are found in stagnant water or polluted water but never in salt or brackish water. Although aquatic vegetation is not necessarily associated with breeding, larvae often live in algae at edges of shaded forest steams. They prefer sunlit or lightly shaded breeding sites. A.maculates is usually associated with hilly or mountainous country. It has been found at altitudes up to 5,000feet.
Anopheles tessellatus, Theobald, 1901:
Although females readily feed on man, A.tessellatus is a semi-domestic and zoophilic mosquito. Females have been caught in human-bait traps in Malaya, but three investigations in Indochina showed very low percentages of females with human blood. In India the species rests in both houses and cow sheds. In the Philippines resting adults have been captured at eroded banks of streams and in damp, shaded cracks of stonewall. The flight range of adults in the Sunda Islands is about 1,100yards. In Malaya, almost no collections have been made from rice fields and streams. In Philippines, on the other hand the species is most abundant in rice fields, vegetated margins of streams, springs and irrigation ditches containing clear water. Over most of its range it breeds in either shaded or open locations.
Anopheles subpictus, Grassi, 1899:
Although normally domestic, A.subpictus is both zoophilic and anthropophilic in Indochina, where studies have revealed as few as 2% of wild-caught females with human blood. Adults are repeatedly encountered in large numbers in all kinds of buildings. Larvae live in many different types of locations containing fresh, brackish, or polluted water. The breeding places may be borrow pits, buffalo wallows, brick pits, drains, pools from leaks in irrigation ditches, furrows in gardens or fields, roof gutters, rice fields, irrigation channels, and artificial containers. In the Sunda Islands, especially Celebes, larvae also breed in brackish water of lagoons and fishponds, with salt concentrations of up to 8.5gm per litre. Larvae have been taken many times from brackish water in Indochina. In Malaya females most commonly oviposit in fresh and brackish water in pools, ponds, and open swamps. Larvae are rarely found in rice fields.
The habitat of A.subpictus is primarily in coastal and low land areas. In Punjab of India the species is found only during and following the monsoon season, where it first appears in June and is prevalent from July to December. In southern India and Burma it breeds through out the year.