Anopheles tenebrosus Dönitz, 1902

1928. Anopheles mauritianus var. tenebrosus of Edwards

1936. Anopheles coustani var. tenebrosus of de Meillon

TYPE LOCALITY: Wadi Natrun, Egypt .

DESCRIPTION:

Wing length: 5.0 mm.

Wing (Fig. 9a): Similar to An. ziemanni but apical pale fringe spot may be reduced, subcostal pale spot sometimes absent, and rarely, costa entirely dark.

Maxillary palpus: Shaggy, with four pale bands.

Legs (Fig. 9b): Apex of foretibia and base of foretarsomere 1 always dark. Apex of hindtibia narrowly pale; hindtarsomere 1 entirely dark basally; hindtarsomeres 4 and 5 pale, 0.5 of hindtarsomere 3 pale.

LARVAL HABITAT: Natural collections of clear water with aquatic and semi-aquatic vegetation, such as swamps, ponds, backwaters of streams, springs, ditches and rice fields. In laboratory experiments, Coetzee & le Sueur (1988) showed that 39.5% of 1,710 An. tenebrosus eggs survived to fourth-instar larvae in 25% seawater, suggesting that the species could occupy a broader range of larval habitats than previously thought.

ADULT BIOLOGY: Cattle-feeding tendencies were confirmed in Ethiopia (Habtewold et al. 2004; Zeru et al. 2020). Long considered unimportant in the transmission of malaria parasites, this was confirmed by recent studies in Egypt (Morsy et al. 1995) and Mozambique (Charlwood et al. 2013; S. Irish, personal communication). Aranda et al. (2005) in southern Mozambique collected 43 An. tenebrosus in a light trap and reported “a few” positive for circumsporozoite protein “albeit with low optical density values”. No further data were provided, and this requires confirmation.

DISTRIBUTION: Widespread and abundant throughout eastern and southern Africa, including Angola. The presence of An. tenebrosus in Gabon was confirmed by Paupy et al. (2013) who caught three specimens in a light trap in the La Lekedi wildlife park. Also known from Egypt, Israel, Jordan, eastern and southwestern Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the Dhofar coast of Oman (Evans 1938; Peffly 1959; Gillies & de Meillon 1968; Glick 1992; Morsy et al. 1995; Abdullah & Merdan 1995).