Highlights on Anopheles nili and Anopheles moucheti, Malaria Vectors in Africa

Excerpt

Anopheles nili Theobald 1904 and An. moucheti Evans 1925 are major human malaria vectors in forested and humid savannah areas of West and Central Africa [1]. Yet, they remain critically understudied and basic knowledge on their biology, ecology and genetics is crucially lacking [2]. To date, most studies of African malaria vectors have focused on An. gambiae, An. arabiensis, and An. funestus, in part, because molecular and cytogenetic tools for characterizing population structure, ecological adaptation, and taxonomic status of other species have been lacking until recently. Further, no laboratory colony is available for experimental work involving these neglected species. This gap in knowledge needs to be addressed for successful implementation of global strategies for malaria elimination and eradication in the Afrotropical region [3].

Recent studies of the ecological niche profile of major African malaria vectors demonstrated that the habitats of An. gambiae, An. arabiensis, and An. funestus have more overlap with each other than with the habitat of An. nili and An. moucheti [–7]. This results in an unusual geographic distribution of An. nili and An. moucheti (Figure 1), revealing their crucial role in malaria transmission in forested and degraded forest areas of equatorial Africa [–13]. Unique aspects of ecological adaptation and behaviour can, in part, explain the increased vectorial capacity of the species in these environments and might protect them from conventional vector control tools targeting highly endophilic and endophagic mosquito species [3, 14]. Moreover, the recent findings of circulation of Plasmodium falciparum along with other Plasmodium species in great apes and monkeys [–17] raise concerns about pathogen transfer between humans and primates and further highlight the need to improve our knowledge of forest malaria vectors.

In this chapter, we review knowledge gained so far on mosquitoes from An. moucheti and closely related species, as well as the An. nili complex. We highlight specific bionomical, ecological and genetic attributes that distinguish these species from the most well-known major African malaria vectors, providing opportunities for further research on neglected aspects of vector biology and control.