Anopheles, Meigen, 1818

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 : 193

ANOPHELES Series

Anopheles concolor Edwards, 1938 (in Evans, 1938)

TYPE LOCALITY: Kabila , Kwango Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo .

DESCRIPTION:

Wing length: 4.5–5.0 mm.

Wing ( Fig. 11a ): Entirely dark.

Maxillary palpus ( Fig. 11b ): Smooth, with two pale bands, apical band covering whole of palpomere 5 and extreme apex of 4; basal band occupying apex of 2nd and base of 3rd palpomeres; a few pale scales sometimes present at apex of 3rd palpomere.

Legs ( Fig. 11c ): Largely dark except for a few white scales at tips of forefemur and –tibia, and conspicuous pale bands at apices of hindfemur and -tibia.

LARVAL HABITAT: In the DRC, in clear acid pools in Sphagnum along the outer edge of thick gallery forest ( Gillies & de Meillon 1968). In the Meanja River in Cameroon ( Wanji et al. 2009) and in swamps in Ethiopia ( Getachew et al. 2020).

ADULT BIOLOGY: Adults of both sexes have been caught in large numbers resting in hollow trees in gallery forest in the southern savannas of the DRC. In certain conditions, the females attack humans in the forest by day, especially in the morning and late afternoon, but the results of precipitin tests on resting females showed that they feed mainly on antelopes. It is likely, from the presence of occasional specimens infected with sporozoites, that the species is implicated in the transmission of non-human malaria ( Gillies & de Meillon 1968). In Angola, one female was caught in the early evening resting in a tent ( Ribeiro & Ramos 1975).

DISTRIBUTION: Angola, Cameroon, DRC ( Kyalo et al. 2017; Irish et al. 2020). In southwestern Ethiopia, two An. concolor were identified from larval collections ( Getachew et al. 2020), but this record requires confirmation.

Figures

FIGURE 11. Anopheles concolor: a, wing; b, palpomere; c, hindleg (from Gillies & de Meillon 1968).