Study of Distribution of Anophelines and Spreading of Malaria
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A study where 22,000 larvae of 13 species of anophelines were collected in 19 states of Mexico revealed that An. albimanus and An. pseudopunctipennis were the two most abundant species . These two species were also found to be the most abundant and widely distributed anophelines along the Pacific coast of Mexico . Two recent studies conducted among indigenous communities in Panama identified between 43% and 98% of mosquitoes as An. albimanus. In Colombia, a retrospective descriptive study showed that An. albimanus, An. nuneztovari s.l., and An. darlingi were the main vectors in receptive areas for malaria , and a study assessing the potential distribution of the three main malaria vectors in Colombia determined that An. albimanus had the greatest niche breadth mainly in coastal areas . The second species reported in this study and considered a dominant vector of malaria was An. pseudopunctipennis, which was recorded only in Comayagua. The remaining 17.4% of the collected mosquitoes belong to the following six species: An. crucians, An. argyritarsis, An. neomaculipalpus, An. vestitipennis, An. apicimacula, and An. punctimacula. Three of these species were not described in the 2020 study (An. argyritarsis, An. apicimacula, An. neomaculipalpus) and are not considered dominant malaria vectors. A notable difference from the 2020 study is the decrease in the proportion of two species collected in Gracias a Dios. Anopheles vestitipennis went from 49.4-4.7% and An. crucians went from 29.5-6.2% . However, the differences in the relative abundance of these species could be influenced by the dates and collection sites.