Anopheles caliginosus de Meillon, 1943

Coetzee, Maureen, 2022, Literature review of the systematics, biology and role in malaria transmission of species in the Afrotropical Anopheles subgenus Anopheles (Diptera: Culicidae), Zootaxa 5133 (2), pp. 182-200 : 184-185

Anopheles caliginosus de Meillon, 1943

1943. Anopheles coustani caliginosus de Meillon

1968. Anopheles caliginosus de Meillon , specific status, Gillies & de Meillon

TYPE LOCALITY: Likasi (formerly Jadotville), Haut-Katanga Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

This species appears to be distinct from An. tenebrosus , but the males and immature stages are still unknown.

DESCRIPTION:

Wing length: 5 mm.

Wing ( Fig. 2a ): Costa entirely dark-scaled; preapical pale spot on R 1; apical pale fringe spot extending from R 2 almost to R 4+5.

Maxillary palpus: Distal two palpomeres slightly less shaggy than is usual for the group; usually entirely dark-scaled, sometimes a few pale scales at apex of palpomeres 3–5.

Legs ( Fig. 2b ): All dark except hindtarsomeres 4 and 5 all pale and apical 0.2 of hindtarsomere 3 pale. Sometimes a few pale scales present at apices of foretarsomeres 1–3 and hindtarsomeres 1 and 2, especially in specimens from Botswana.

Variation: Specimens from Kasane, Botswana show some darkening of hindtarsomere 5 and, hence, bear a superficial resemblance to An. symesi . They differ markedly from this species, however, in the dark costa and thorax, and in having less than apical half of hindtarsomere 3 pale.

LARVAL HABITAT: Unknown.

ADULT BIOLOGY: The Democratic Republic of the Congo ( DRC) specimens were mainly collected in a sheep-baited trap.

DISTRIBUTION: Known only from Angola ( Gillies & Coetzee 1987), Botswana and the DRC ( Gillies & de Meillon 1968). The record from Eswatini ( Irish et al. 2020) is from an unpublished WHO report on an evaluation mission by a consultant team to Swaziland in November/ December 1984, led by malariologist L.T. de Almeida Franco. This identification of An. caliginosus requires confirmation as it could have been a misidentification of An. tenebrosus , which is common in the neighbouring countries of Mozambique and South Africa.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Anopheles caliginosus: a, wing; b, hindleg (from Gillies & de Meillon 1968).