Anopheles sinensis is a malaria mosquito of East Asia that breeds in rice paddies and ditches and is a major carrier of there. It does not occur in the United States. Females bite from dusk to dawn, mostly livestock and less often people.
Appearance
- Appearance
- A dark-bodied mosquito whose wings are patterned with dark and pale scales.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Rice paddies
- Irrigation ditches
- Marshes
- Ponds
- Ground pools
- Range
- Native to East and Southeast Asia, including China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. It is not found in North America.
- Preferred conditions
- Larvae live in clean standing or slow-moving water, especially flooded rice fields.
Behavior
- Diet
- Females feed mainly on large animals such as cattle and pigs; when livestock are nearby, they bite people relatively little.
- Activity
- Bites through the night, with a peak in the small hours (roughly midnight to 4 a.m.). It is drawn to light but prefers to bite outdoors.
- Overwintering
- In Korea and Japan, adult females hibernate in dense grass from about October to March and may feed in daytime when they first emerge in spring.
Life cycle
- Larva
- Larvae develop in rice fields, ditches, streams, canals, marshes, and ponds.
Cautions
- Cautions
- Can carry vivax malaria and parasites in parts of its Asian range.
Name and classification
- About the name
- Once treated as a single species, it is now regarded as a complex of several near-identical species in the Anopheles hyrcanus group.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
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