Explanation of Names
ANOPHELES: a Greek word meaning harmful; from "an" (without) + "opheles" (use, help)
Numbers
17 species in North America (
nearctica.com)
6 species in Canada (
mosquitocatalog.org)
Identification
Adults
- long palps (almost as long as proboscis)
- rounded (not trilobed) scutellum.
- slender, long-legged appearance.
Larvae
- lacking a breathing tube
- lay parallel to the surface of the water at rest.
Habitat
Larvae occur chiefly in ground pools, marshes and in places where there is considerable vegetation.
Life Cycle
Eggs are laid directly on the water surface; each egg has a set of flotation sacks to prevent it from sinking. Most Anopheles overwinters as an adult, but some like An. walkeri overwinter as eggs
Remarks
There are about 422 species of Anopheles worldwide, many of them sibling species that can only be identified using genetic techniques. Of these, about 70 are vectors of the protozoan Plasmodium that causes malaria, but only about 40 are important. Malaria infects 300-500 million and kills 1.5-2.7 million people each year, making it by far the most serious of the diseases spread by insects.
[text copied from web page at Iziko Museums of Capetown, South Africa]
Some species are vectors of the canine heartworm Dirofilaria immitis that causes dog heartworm disease.
Internet References
species numbers and prevalence of Malaria (Iziko Museums of Cape Town, South Africa)
live photos of all life stages of two Australian species (Govt. of New South Wales, Australia)
