Mosquitoes, the Culicidae, are a family of small flies consisting of 3,600 species. The word mosquito is Spanish and Portuguese for little fly. Mosquitoes have a slender segmented body, one pair of wings, three pairs of long hair-like legs, and specialized, highly elongated, piercing-sucking mouthparts. All mosquitoes drink nectar from flowers; females of some species have in addition adapted to drink blood. The group diversified during the Cretaceous period. Evolutionary biologists view mosquitoes as micropredators, small animals that parasitise larger ones by drinking their blood without immediately killing them. Medical parasitologists view mosquitoes instead as vectors of disease, carrying protozoan parasites or bacterial or viral pathogens from one host to another.
Anopheles is a genus of mosquito first described by the German entomologist J. W. Meigen in 1818, and are known as nail mosquitoes and marsh mosquitoes. Many such mosquitoes are vectors of the parasite Plasmodium, a genus of protozoans that cause malaria in birds, reptiles, and mammals, including humans. The Anopheles gambiae mosquito is the best-known species of marsh mosquito that transmits the Plasmodium falciparum, which is a malarial parasite deadly to human beings; no other mosquito genus is a vector of human malaria.
Plasmodium ovale is a species of parasitic protozoon that causes tertian malaria in humans. It is one of several species of Plasmodium parasites that infect humans, including Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax which are responsible for most cases of malaria in the world. P. ovale is rare compared to these two parasites, and substantially less dangerous than P. falciparum.
Anopheles culicifacies is a mosquito species complex and one of the primary vectors of malaria on the Indian subcontinent. It consists of five sibling species, provisionally designated as species A, B, C, D, and E. It prefers to rest indoors in cattle sheds, where it feeds on cattle. The control of A. culicifacies has become difficult due to the development of insecticide resistance against all commonly used insecticides, including new-generation insecticides such as synthetic pyrethroids.
Culex restuans is a species of mosquito known to occur in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and the Bahamas. It is a disease vector for St. Louis encephalitis and West Nile virus. In 2013 West Nile Virus positive specimens were collected in Southern California.
Anopheles crucians is a mosquito that exists in aquatic environments under areas with little light presence. The preferred environment for A. crucians is areas with acidic water such as that found in cypress swamps. The mosquito breeds in semipermanent and permanent pools, ponds, lakes and swamps.
Anopheles is a genus of mosquitoes (Culicidae) with about 484 recognised species.
Sir Gordon Covell was a physician and a major general in the Indian Medical Service. He specialized in malaria disease control and eradication efforts and was a member of the expert committee on malaria set up by the WHO from 1948 to 1958, serving as its secretary. He was also an advisor to the British Ministry of Health and the Director of the Malaria Laboratory at Horton Hospital.
Anopheles (Cellia) subpictus is a species complex of four species of mosquito belonging to the genus Anopheles.
Rajpal Singh Yadav is an Indian scientist in the field of vector ecology and management. He joined the World Health Organization in 2009. He retired in 2023, as a Scientist at the Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases, Geneva, Switzerland. He was a Co-Chair of the WHO Joint Action Group for the implementation of the Global Vector Control Response,. He was also Head of the WHO Pesticide Evaluation Scheme (WHOPES) for the evaluation of vector control products. During this period he reviewed research protocols and generated a global evidence base for insecticide use and pesticide management. He was also a Focal person in, the WHO secretariat for the FAO/WHO Joint Programme on Pesticide Management. The work involved collaboration with other UN and international organizations, research institutions, programmes, industry, NGOs, and other stakeholders. He is the recipient of the 2016, Lifetime Achievement Award from the Indian Association of Entomologists. He has published more than 100 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals.
Anopheles albimanus is a species of mosquito in the order Diptera. It is found in coastal Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Mexico. It is a generalist species and capable of wide dispersion. A. albimanus is a common malaria vector.
Anopheles daciae is a species of mosquito that belongs to the Anhopheles maculipennis comple. Other species of this complex include Anopheles messeae, which can only be distinguished from Anopheles daciae by DNA analysis.
Anopheles darlingi, the American malaria mosquito, is a species of mosquito in the family Culicidae. A. darlingi is one of the major species of mosquito known to be responsible for malaria in the Amazonian regions. It has a wide range of geographic distribution that stretches from Mexico and Argentina but it has also been found to populate in areas affected by deforestation and environment changes due to humans.
Anopheles claviger is a mosquito species found in Palearctic realm covering Europe, North Africa, northern Arabian Peninsula, and northern Asia. It is responsible for transmitting malaria in some of these regions. The mosquito is made up of a species complex consisting of An. claviger sensu stricto and An. petragnani Del Vecchio. An. petragnani is found only in western Mediterranean region, and is reported to bite only animals; hence, it is not involved in human malaria.
Anopheles sinensis is a species of mosquito that transmits malaria as well as lymphatic filariasis. It is regarded as the most important vector of these human parasitic diseases in Southeast Asia. It is the primary vector of vivax malaria in many regions. In China it also transmits the filalarial parasite, and arthropod roundworm. In Japan it is also a vector of a roundworm Setaria digitata in sheep and goats.
Anopheles (Cellia) tessellatus is a species complex of zoophilic mosquito belonging to the genus Anopheles. It is found in India, and Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. It is first described from Sri Lanka. Larvae are known to found from dirty stagnant water in sun or shady habitats. Adults are zoophilic. It is not regarded as a malaria vector, but is a secondary vector of Wuchereria bancrofti in Maldives.
Anopheles freeborni, commonly known as the western malaria mosquito, is a species of mosquito in the family Culicidae. It is typically found in the western United States and Canada. Adults are brown to black, with yellow-brown hairs and gray-brown stripes on the thorax. Their scaly wings have four dark spots, which are less distinct in the male.
Anopheles atroparvus is a European species of mosquito, which was first identified in 1927. It is one of the most abundant palearctic Anopheles species belonging to the family Culicidae, commonly called mosquitoes. Although research interest in A. atroparvus has been low in the past several decades, recent concern for an increase in vector-borne disease has encouraged new research into this species.
Anopheles hermsi is a species of mosquito in the family Culicidae. It is a known vector of Plasmodium vivax malaria. An. hermsi have been collected in Southern California.
