Editing Anopheles (section)

== Ecology ==

=== Distribution ===

''Anopheles'' species live both in tropical areas known for malaria such as sub-Saharan Africa, and in colder latitudes. Malaria outbreaks have in the past occurred in colder climates, for example during the construction of the [[Rideau Canal]] in Canada during the 1820s.<ref name="Wylie 1983">{{cite journal |author=Wylie WNT |s2cid=143040362 |year=1983 |title=Poverty, Distress, and Disease: Labour and the Construction of the Rideau Canal, 1826–32 |journal=[[Labour/Le Travail]] |volume=11 |pages=7–29 |jstor=25140199 |doi=10.2307/25140199}}</ref> ''Anopheles'' species that can transmit malaria are not limited to malaria-endemic areas, so areas where they have been eliminated are constantly at risk of reintroduction of the disease.<ref name="CDC Where Malaria 2020">{{cite web |date=April 9, 2020 |title=CDC - Malaria - About Malaria - Where Malaria occurs |url=https://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/distribution.html |access-date=December 20, 2022 |website=cdc.gov}}</ref>

[[File:Anopheles-range-map.png|thumb|center|upright=3.5|Global distribution of ''Anopheles'' species covers both the tropics with numerous malarias, and colder areas not subject to malaria at the start of the 21st century.<ref name="CDC Where Malaria 2020"/>]]

=== Habitat ===

''Anopheles'' require bodies of water, possibly small and seasonal,  for their aquatic larvae and pupae. Suitable habitats range from ponds to water tanks, swamps, ditches and puddles.<ref>{{cite web |title=Anopheles Mosquitoes |url=https://globalvectorhub.tghn.org/vector-species/anopheles-mosquitoes/ |website=Global Vector Hub |access-date=15 December 2023}}</ref> The adults can however live in dry regions such as Africa's [[savanna]] and [[Sahel]]. They can travel far from water, and are sometimes blown hundreds of kilometres by suitable winds. Adults can [[aestivate]] for months at a time, becoming dormant in hot dry weather, allowing them to persist through the African [[dry season]].<ref name="Baldini Viana 2023 pp. 1–3">{{cite journal |last1=Baldini |first1=Francesco |last2=Viana |first2=Mafalda |title=Dried out but alive: how mosquitoes survive 8 months |journal=Trends in Parasitology |volume=39 |issue=1 |date=2023 |doi=10.1016/j.pt.2022.11.006 |pages=1–3|pmid=36470782 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Further, ''Anopheles'' have been documented travelling in baggage, such as on aircraft.<ref name="Ibáñez-Justicia Smitz den Hartog van de Vossenberg 2020 p. 3450">{{cite journal |last1=Ibáñez-Justicia |first1=Adolfo |last2=Smitz |first2=Nathalie |last3=den Hartog |first3=Wietse |last4=van de Vossenberg |first4=Bart |last5=De Wolf |first5=Katrien |last6=Deblauwe |first6=Isra |last7=Van Bortel |first7=Wim |last8=Jacobs |first8=Frans |last9=Vaux |first9=Alexander G. C. |last10=Medlock |first10=Jolyon M. |last11=Stroo |first11=Arjan |display-authors=5 |title=Detection of Exotic Mosquito Species (Diptera: Culicidae) at International Airports in Europe |journal=International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |volume=17 |issue=10 |date=2020-05-15 |pmid=32429218 |pmc=7277938 |doi=10.3390/ijerph17103450 |page=3450 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

=== Parasites ===

Parasites of ''Anopheles'' include [[Microsporidia]] of the genera ''[[Amblyospora]]'', ''[[Crepidulospora]]'', ''[[Senoma]]'' and ''[[Parathelohania]]''.<ref name="Simakova 2008">{{cite journal |author1=Simakova, A. V. |author2=Pankova, T. F. |year=2008 |title=Ecology and epizootology of microsporidia in malarial mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) from the south of western Siberia |journal=Parazitologiia |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=139–150 |pmid=18664069 |language=ru}}</ref> Two distinct life cycles are found in the Microsporidia. In the first type, the parasite is transmitted by the oral route and is relatively species nonspecific. In the second, while again the oral route is the usual route of infection, the parasite is ingested within an already infected intermediate host. Infection of the insect larval form is frequently tissue-specific, and commonly involves the [[fat body]]. Vertical (transovarial) transmission also occurs.<ref name="Baker Vossbrinck Becnel 1998">{{cite journal |author1=Baker, Michael D. |author2=Vossbrinck, Charles R. |author3=Becnel, James J. |author4=Andreadis, Theodore G. |year=1998 |title=Phylogeny of ''Amblyospora'' (Microsporida: Amblyosporidae) and related genera based on small subunit ribosomal DNA data: a possible example of host parasite cospeciation |journal=[[Journal of Invertebrate Pathology]] |volume=71 |issue=3 |pages=199–206 |pmid=9538024 |doi=10.1006/jipa.1997.4725 |bibcode=1998JInvP..71..199B |url=http://www.ct.gov/caes/LIB/caes/documents/biographies/BakerJIP98.pdf}}</ref>

The parasitic ''[[Wolbachia]]'' bacteria have been studied for use as control agents.<ref name="Discovery Article">{{cite web |url=http://news.discovery.com/animals/mosquito-parasite-disease-fighting.html |title=Mosquito Parasite Fights Infectious Disease |website=Discovery News |date=1 October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091123222013/http://news.discovery.com/animals/mosquito-parasite-disease-fighting.html |archive-date=23 November 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Predators ===

The jumping spider ''[[Evarcha culicivora]]'' indirectly feeds on vertebrate blood by preying on female ''Anopheles''.<ref name="Nelson Jackson Sune 2005">{{cite journal |last1=Nelson |first1=Ximena J. |last2=Jackson |first2=Robert R. |last3=Sune |first3=Godfrey |title=Use of ''Anopheles''-specific prey-capture behavior by the small juveniles of ''Evarcha culicivora'', a mosquito-eating jumping spider |journal=The Journal of Arachnology |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=541–548 |date=2005 |url=https://doi.org/10.1636/05-3.1 |doi=10.1636/05-3.1 |s2cid=55244513}}</ref> Juvenile spiders choose the ''Anopheles'' over all other prey regardless of whether it actually is carrying blood.<ref name="Jackson Cross 2015">Jackson, Robert R.; Cross, Fiona R. "Mosquito-terminator spiders and the meaning of predatory specialization." The Journal of Arachnology 43.2 (2015): 123–142.</ref> Juvenile spiders have adopted an ''Anopheles''-specific prey-capture behavior, using the posture of ''Anopheles'' as a primary cue to identify them.<ref name="Nelson Jackson Sune 2005"/> ''Anopheles'' has a distinctive resting posture with its abdomen angled up. In this case, the spider approaches from behind the mosquito and under its abdomen, and then attacks from below.<ref name="Nelson Jackson 2006">{{cite journal |last1=Nelson |first1=Ximena J. |last2=Jackson |first2=Robert R. |title=A Predator from East Africa that Chooses Malaria Vectors as Preferred Prey |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=132 |date=2006 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0000132 |pmid=17205136 |pmc=1762417 |bibcode=2006PLoSO...1..132N |doi-access=free}}</ref>