Anopheles maculipennis Meigen, 1818.
Subfamily Anophelinae. A total of 468 formally recognised species and more than 50 unnamed members of species complexes are recognised as distinct morphological and/or biological species of the genus. The formally named species are placed in seven subgenera, Anopheles (183 species), Baimaia (1), Cellia (222), Kerteszia (12), Lophopodomyia (6), Nyssorhynchus (35) and Stethomyia (5). The three largest subgenera are further segregated into Sections, Series and Groups (see Anopheles Classification).
Most members of genus Anopheles are immediately recognised by their overall appearance. The majority of the adults are slender insects with the head and abdomen oriented in a straight line at an angle to the surface when at rest. The maxillary palpi are about as long as the proboscis and in males they are clubbed apically; the posterior margin of the scutellum is evenly rounded (distinction from Chagasia); vein M1+2 and vein M3+4 are straight or evenly curved, not sinuate (distinction from Bironella); and the abdominal segments usually have only small patches of scales or none at all (distinction from culicines). Larvae are immediately recognised by the absence of a siphon (distinction from culicines), the absence of palmate setae on the mesothorax (distinction from Bironella) and the absence of both uniquely developed palmate setae on abdominal segments III-V and a fringe of setae on the posterolateral lobes of the spiracular apparatus (distinction from Chagasia). See Anophelinae.
Anopheles larvae are adapted to a variety of aquatic habitats, but occur predominantly in ground waters. Some species require aerated water, others brackish water and some inhabit cavities such as tree holes (Plumbeus Group, subgenus Anopheles) and the axils of epiphytic plants (subgenus Kerteszia, except for An. bambusicolus which inhabits bamboo). Specific habitats contain stagnant water or water that is slowed down by vegetation or objects in specific niches occupied by the larvae. The larvae of all species feed at the water surface, where they attach to the surface film by the spiracular apparatus, palmate setae and special notched organs on the prothorax. They rotate the head 180° so that particles of food at the surface can be swept into the mouth by currents produced by the mouth brushes. The larvae generally rest with the end of the abdomen against objects and are therefore found in greatest numbers in areas with emergent vegetation at the margins of the habitats. The adults of most Anopheles are active at night (nocturnal) or during twilight periods (crepuscular), and rest in cool, damp places during the day. Blood-feeding is largely restricted to warm-blooded animals. Information on host specificity primarily pertains to those species that feed on humans and domestic animals. Females bite humans inside or outside houses. They normally fly no farther than 1-3 km from the larval habitats.
Anopheles has an almost world-wide distribution. Species of the genus occur in temperate, subtropical and tropical areas, but are absent from the majority of the Pacific Islands, including the large ones of New Zealand, Fiji and New Caledonia, and isolated islands in the Atlantic. Anopheles species are found at elevations from coastal areas to mountainous terrain.
Lane, 1953 (Neotropical Region); Mattingly & Knight, 1956 (Arabia); Cova-Garcia, 1961 (Venezuela); Belkin, 1962 (taxonomy, South Pacific); Forattini, 1962 (Neotropical Region); DuBose & Curtin, 1965 (keys, Mediterranean area); Grjebine, 1966 (Madagascar); Gillies & de Meillon, 1968 (Afrotropical Region); Reid, 1968 (Malaysia, Borneo); Belkin et al., 1970 (Jamaica); Cagampang-Ramos & Darsie, 1970 (keys, Philippine Islands); Zavortink, 1970 (tree hole species, New World); Zavortink, 1973 (subgenus Kerteszia); Gutsevich et al., 1974 (former USSR); Harrison & Scanlon, 1975 (subgenus Anopheles, Thailand); Klein, 1977 (Cambodia); Faran, 1980 (Albimanus Section, subgenus Nyssorhynchus); Tanaka et al., 1979 (Japan); Wood et al., 1979 (Canada); Harrison, 1980 (Myzomyia Series, subgenus Cellia, Thailand); Darsie & Ward, 1981, 2005 (keys, North America); Faran & Linthicum, 1981 (subgenus Nyssorhynchus, Amazonia); Lu & Li, 1982 (China); Clark-Gil & Darsie, 1983 (Guatemala); Rao, 1984 (India); Lee et al., 1987 (Australasian Region); Gillies & Coetzee, 1987 (Afrotropical Region); Linthicum, 1988 (Argyritarsis Section, subgenus Nyssorhynchus); Das et al., 1990 (keys, India); Darsie & Pradhan, 1990 (Nepal); Wilkerson & Strickman, 1990 (keys, Central America and Mexico); Glick, 1992 (keys, southwestern Asia and Egypt); Peyton et al., 1992 (taxonomy, subgenera Kerteszia and Nyssorhynchus); Rattanarithikul & Panthusiri, 1994 (keys, medically important species, Thailand); Nagpal & Sharma, 1995 (India); Lu Baolin et al., 1997 (China); Harbach et al., 2005 (subgenus Baimaia); Rattanarithikul et al., 2006 (keys, Thailand); Harbach, 2007 (phylogeny); Azari-Hamidian & Harbach, 2009 (keys, Iran); Harbach, 2013 (classification and phylogeny).
Subgenus Anopheles (see).
Subgenus Baimaia (see).
Subgenus Cellia (see).
Subgenus Kerteszia (see).
Subgenus Lophopodomyia (see).
Subgenus Nyssorhynchus (see).
Subgenus Stethomyia (see).