Mosquitoes, the Culicidae, are a family of small flies consisting of 3,600 species. The word "mosquito" is Spanish 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. 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 J. W. Meigen in 1818. Its members are sometimes called nail mosquitoes or marsh mosquitoes. Many are vectors of the parasite Plasmodium, which causes malaria in birds, reptiles, and mammals including humans. Anopheles gambiae is the best-known species, as it transmits one of the most dangerous human malarial parasites, Plasmodium falciparum. No other mosquito genus is a vector of human malaria.
Plasmodium berghei is a single-celled parasite causing rodent malaria. It is in the Plasmodium subgenus Vinckeia.
The Anopheles gambiae complex consists of at least seven morphologically indistinguishable species of mosquitoes in the genus Anopheles. The complex was recognised in the 1960s and includes the most important vectors of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly of the most dangerous malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. It is one of the most efficient malaria vectors known. The An. gambiae mosquito additionally transmits Wuchereria bancrofti which causes lymphatic filariasis, a symptom of which is elephantiasis.
Culex (Culex) tritaeniorhynchus is a species of mosquito and is the main vector of the disease Japanese encephalitis. This mosquito is a native of northern Asia, and parts of Africa. Females target large animals for blood extraction, including cattle and swine, and are strongly anthropophilic.
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.
Mkilua is a genus of plant in the family Annonaceae. It is native to Kenya and Tanzania. It contains a single species, Mkilua fragrans. Bernard Verdcourt, the British botanist who first formally described the species, named it after the fragrance of its flowers which smell like lemon. It is commonly called Mkilua Mwitu, Kilua and Kiluwa in Swahili, and Kingade in Digo. Volatile oils extracted from its leaves, flowers, and aerial parts have been reported to be repellent to Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes which are vectors for the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Bioactive molecules extracted from its roots have been reported to have antimicrobial activity in tests with Streptococcus agalactiae and Staphylococcus aureus.
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 is a genus of mosquitoes (Culicidae) with about 484 recognised species.
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 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 nili is a species of mosquito in the Culicidae family. It comprises the following elements: An. carnevalei, An. nili, An. ovengensis and An. somalicus. The scientific name of this species was first published in 1904 by Theobald. It is the main mosquito species found in the south Cameroon forest zone which bites humans. It is known as a problematic carrier of malaria, although newly discovered, closely related species in the same genus have also been found to interact with A. nili as a disease vector. In that, they both have similar feeding habits on local targets in the Cameroon region.
Elizabethkingia anophelis is a yellow-pigmented, rod-shaped, gram-negative bacterium in the Flavobacteriaceae family. Elizabethkingia is isolated from the midgut of Anopheles gambiae G3 mosquitoes reared in captivity. The genus Elizabethkingia, named for former US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) microbiologist Elizabeth O. King, also includes E. meningoseptica which causes neonatal sepsis and infections in immunocompromised persons, E. endophytica, and E. miricola.
Anopheles (Cellia) vagus is a species complex of zoophilic mosquito belonging to the genus Anopheles. It is found in India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. It is a potential natural vector of malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum, and Japanese encephalitis virus. It is highly susceptible to insecticide deltamethrin and resistant to DDT.
Toxorhynchites (Toxorhynchites) splendens is a species of non-hematophagous mosquito belonging to the genus Toxorhynchites. It is widely used as a predator to control dengue mosquitoes.
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 arabiensis is a zoophilic species of mosquito and a vector of disease endemic to Africa.
Anopheles cruzii, is the species of mosquito that mainly located in southern coast of Brazil, is main vector of malaria, Plasmodium vivax.
