ORIENTAL & PALEARCTIC REGIONS
Etymology: Henry Leste
Anopheles lesteri is placed in the Lesteri Subgroup of the Hyrcanus Group, along with An. crawfordi Reid, An. peditaeniatus (Leicester), and An. vietnamensis Nguyen, Tran & Nguyen. Molecular studies have resolved many long-standing queries on the taxonomic status of An. lesteri, recognizing four valid synonyms: paraliae Sandosham (described from the Malaysian mainland and Borneo), and kiangsuensis Xu & Feng, anthropophagus Xu & Feng, and dazhaius Ma (all described from China). DNA comparison of An. paraliae and An. lesteri (ITS2 rDNA; mtDNA COI, COII), and An. lesteri and An. anthropophagous (ITS2 rDNA) from China confirmed the conspecificity of both these taxa with An. lesteri. Anopheles lesteri is placed in the Lesteri Subgroup of the Hyrcanus Group, along with An. crawfordi Reid, An. peditaeniatus (Leicester), and An. vietnamensis Nguyen, Tran & Nguyen.
Type locality: Santa Mesa of Manila, [Rizal, Luzon], Philippines
Type depository: Type non-existent (NE)
DIAGNOSTIC CHARACTERS (Click photos to view; mouse over and click large photo to zoom in.)
ADULT (illustrated): Head: Clypeus with patches of dark scales laterally; Basal 4-8 flagellomeres of flagellum with pale scales; palpomere MPlp3 with pale basal band at most as wide as other pale bands. Thorax: Antepronotal scales present; C-II with distinct upper patch of pale scales. Wing: Costa usually without humeral pale spot; pale fringe spot at termination of vein CuA usually present; presector pale spot vaguely-defined or missing; vein 1A with 2 dark spots. Legs: Fe-III without distal broad preapical white band; Ta-III1-5 with apical pale bands only.
LARVA (not illustrated): Head: Antenna spiculate; seta 1-A with branches reaching beyond midpoint on antenna; seta 2-C single, closely approximated; seta 3-C with ≥10 branches. Abdominal segments: Seta 1 well-developed palmate on ≥5 segments; seta 1-P without branches on basal 0.5, single or with short branches on distal 0.5; leaflets of palmate seta 1-III–VII serrated.
TAXONOMIC KEYS
Nguyen Thuong Hien 1968
Rattanarithikul et al. 2006b (as paraliae)
WRBU – Anopheles - Myzorhynchus Series - Indomalayan Region - Adult
WRBU – Anopheles - Myzorhynchus Series - Indomalayan Region - Larva
WRBU – Anopheles - Myzorhynchus Series - Oriental Region - Adult
WRBU – Anopheles - Myzorhynchus Series - Oriental Region - Larva
WRBU - Anopheles - Eastern Palearctic Region - Adult
WRBU - Anopheles - Eastern Palearctic Region - Larva
WRBU - Genera - Global - Adult
WRBU - Genera - Global - Larva
WRBU - Genera - Indomalaya - Adult
WRBU - Genera - Indomalaya - Larva
WRBU - Genera - Oriental - Adult
WRBU - Genera - Oriental - Larva
WRBU - Anopheles Subgenera and Series - Indomalaya - Adult
WRBU - Anopheles Subgenera and Series - Indomalaya - Larva
WRBU - Anopheles Subgenera and Series - Oriental - Adult
WRBU - Anopheles Subgenera and Series - Oriental - Larva
Exemplar DNA sequences
An. lesteri ITS2: AY375469 (Philippines); AY375468, AB733020–22 (South Korea); AY375467, AY803792 (China, as An. anthropophagus); AB733023–27 Thailand (as An. paraliae); COI: KC855663–64; EU699001–055.
BIONOMICS
Immatures
Anopheles lesteri immature habitats are typically shaded, cool water in rice fields, marshes, ground pools or ponds. Rice fields can become highly prolific rearing sites for An. lesteri, especially later in the rice growing season when plants shade the deeper waters.
Adults
Anopheles lesteri females are endophilic and endophagic, readily entering homes to feed and rest Gonotrophic cycles last 12 days. In northern parts of their range, An. lesteri can overwinter both as eggs and adults – which is unusual in Anopheles mosquitoes.
DISTRIBUTION NOTES
Brunei, Cambodia, Guam, Hong Kong, Indonesia (includes Kalimantan, Sulawesi), Japan, Laos, Malaysia, People's Republic of China, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam.
WRBU VECTOR HAZARD REPORTS
None; View other WRBU Vector Hazard Reports
Available GIS Models
An. lesteri_Foley_1 Palearctic
IMPORTANT REFERENCES (full citations below)
Baisas & Hu 1936: 229 (F, P*, L*, E*; hyrcanus var.)
Ohmori 1957 (M*, E*)
Ohmori 1959: 222 (P*)
Whang 1962: 39 (distribution)
Nguyen Thuong Hien 1968 (F*, L*;keys, tax., bion., Vietnam)
Reid 1968: 105 (M*, F*, P*, L*, E*; as paraliae)
Basio 1971b: 36 (M*, F*; bionomics)
Basio & Reisen 1971: 60 (L; distribution)
Tanaka 1971: 4 (distribution)
Harrison 1973b: 4 (taxonomy)
Baisas 1974: 50 (M, F*, P, L*; taxonomy, bionomics, distribution; Philippines)
Harrison & Scanlon 1975: 61 (M*, F*, P*, L*; distribution; as paraliae)
Tanaka et al. 1975c: 212 (taxonomy, distribution); Kanda & Oguma 1976: 325 (tax.)
Otsuru et al. 1976: 301 (E)
Tanaka et al. 1979: 83 (M*, F*, P, L*, E)
Linley et al. 1995: 59 (E*; as paraliae)
Rueda et al. 2003 (taxonomy)
Rueda et al. 2005 (M*, F*, P*, L*; neotype designation)
Rattanarithikul et al. 2006b (F*, L*; bionomics, distribution, keys; as paraliae)
Becker et al. 2010: 339 (F*, L*; key, taxonomy, distribution, bionomics)
Sinka et al. 2011: 89 (bionomic review, distribution, niche model)
Saeung et al. 2014 (E*; as paraliae)
CURRENT SYNONYMS
syn. paraliae Sandosham
1959: 189 (F, L). Type locality: Malaya [Malaysia] & Borneo (NHMUK). References: Reid 1963a: 101 (lectotype designation; distribution); Harrison et al. 1991 (1990): 208 (from ssp. of lesteri); Taai et al. 2013 (synonymy with lesteri).
syn. kiangsuensis Xu & Feng
1975 (F, E*). Type locality: Wukiang, Kiangsu Province, China [People's Republic of China] (Chinese Medical College). References: Yang et al. 1983 (as syn. of anthropophagus).
syn. anthropophagus Xu & Feng
1975: 81 (M*, F*, P*, L*, E*; as lesteri ssp.). Type locality: Wukiang, Kiangsu Province, China [People's Republic of China] (Chinese Medical College). References: Ma 1981b: 60 (from ssp. of lesteri); Wilkerson et al. 2003 (synonymy); Rueda et al. 2003 (taxonomy).
syn. dazhaius Ma
1981b: 65 (M*, F*, E*). Type locality: Sichuan Province, China [People's Republic of China] (IZ). References: Miao et al. 1988 (hybridization experiments; dazhaius conspecific with lesteri); Qu & Zhu 2008 (review; syn. of dazhaius with lesteri by Miao et al. 1988).
CURRENT SUBSPECIES
None
CITED REFERENCES
Baisas, F. E., & Hu, S. M. K. (1936). Anopheles hyrcanus var. sinensis of the Philippines and certain parts of China, with some comments on Anopheles hyrcanus var. nigerrimus of the Philippines. Monthly Bulletin of the Bureau of Health, 16(6), 205–242
Baisas, F. E. (1974). The mosquito fauna of Subic Bay Naval Reservation, Republic of the Philippines. San Francisco: Headquarters, First Medical Service Wing (PACAF), San Francisco.
Basio, R. G. (1971b). The mosquito fauna of the Philippines (Diptera, Culicidae). Manila: National Museum of the Philippines. 198pp.
Basio, R. G., & Reisen, W. K. (1971). On some mosquitoes of Guam, Marianas Islands (Diptera: Culicidae). Philippine Entomologist, 2(1), 57–61.
Becker, N., Petrić, D., Zgomba, M., Boase, C., Madon, M., Dahl, C., & Kaiser, A. (2010). Mosquitoes and their control (Second ed.). Berlin Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
Harrison, B.A., & Scanlon, J.E. (1975). Medical entomology studies-II. The subgenus Anopheles in Thailand (Diptera: Culicidae). Contributions of the American Entomological Institute, 12(1), iv + 1–307.
Harrison, B.A., Rattanarithikul, R., Peyton, E.L., & Mongkolpanya, K. (1991). Taxonomic changes, revised occurrence records and notes on the Culicidae of Thailand and neighboring countries. Mosquito Systematics, 22 (1990)(3), 196–227.
Kanda, T., & Oguma, Y. (1976). Morphological variations of Anopheles sinensis Wiedemann, 1828 and A. lesteri Baisas and IIu, 1936 and frequency of clasper movements of the males of several Anopheles species during induced copulation. Japanese Journal of Sanitary Zoology, 27(4), 325–331.
Linley, J.R., Yap, H.H., & Damar, T.B. (1995). The eggs of four species of the Anopheles hyrcanus group in Malaysia (Diptera: Culicidae). Mosquito Systematics, 27(1), 43–71.
Ma, S. (1981b). Studies on the Anopheles (A.) sinensis group of mosquitoes in China, including four new sibling species. (In Chinese). Sinozoologia, 1, 59–70.
Miao, J., Pan, J., & Jiang, W. (1988). Hybridization and chromosome observations on six species of the Anopheles hyrcanus group in China (Diptera: Culicidae). Zoological Research, 9(3), 231–237.
Nguyen Thuong Hien 1968. The genus of Anopheles in Vietnam. Saigon: Bureau of Entomology, National Malaria Program/ Republic of Vietnam. English translation by Military Entomology Information Service. 205pp.
Ohmori, Y. (1957). On the male hypopygium of the sinensis group of anopheline mosquitoes in Japan. Acta Médica et Biological (Niigata, Japan), 5, 209–217.
Ohmori, Y. (1959). The pupae of Japanese Anopheles. Japanese Journal of Sanitary Zoology, 10, 210–225.
Otsuru, M., Nagashima, Y., Nakamura, Y., & Kishimoto, T. (1976). Survey of eggs of the Anopheles sinensis sibling species group in Okinawa Is. Japanese Journal of Sanitary Zoology, 27(3), 301–303.
Qu, F., & Zhu, H. (2008). On a checklist of the Anopheline mosquitoes in China with rectification for some specific names. Chinese Journal of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases, 26(3), 210–216.
Rattanarithikul, R., Harrison, B.A., Harbach, R.E., Panthusiri, P., & Coleman, R.E. (2006b). Illustrated keys to the mosquitoes of Thailand. IV. Anopheles. Southeast Asian Journal of Tropical Medicine and Public Health, 128(Supplement 2), 2.
Reid, J.A. (1963a). Notes on anopheline mosquitoes from Malaya, with descriptions of three new species. Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology, 57, 97–116.
Reid, J.A. (1968). Anopheline mosquitoes of Malaya and Borneo. Studies from the Institute for Medical Research Malaysia, 31, 1–520.
Rueda, L.M., Wilkerson, R.C., & Li, C. (2005). Anopheles (Anopheles) lesteri Baisas and Hu (Diptera: Culicidae): neotype designation and description. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 107, 604–622.
Saeung, A., Baimai, V., Thongsahuan, S., Otsuka, Y., Srisuka, W., Taai, K., . . . Choochote, W. (2014). Cytogenetic, cross-mating and molecular evidence of four cytological races of Anopheles crawfordi (Diptera: Culicidae) in Thailand and Cambodia. Comptes Rendus Biologies, 337(11), 625–634.
Sandosham, A. A. (1959). Malariology with special Reference to Malaya. University of Malaya, Singapore.
Sinka, M.E., Bangs, M.J., Manguin, S., Chareonviriyaphap, T., Patil, A.P., Temperley, W.H., ... Hay, S.I. (2011). The dominant Anopheles vectors of human malaria in the Asia-Pacific region: Occurrence data, distribution maps and bionomic précis. Parasites & Vectors, 4(1), 89.
Taai, K., Baimai, V., Saeung, A., Thongsahuan, S., Min, G.-S., Otsuka, Y., . . . Choochote, W. (2013). Genetic compatibility between Anopheles lesteri from Korea and Anopheles paraliae from Thailand. Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, 108(3), 312–320.
Tanaka, K. (1971). Mosquitoes of the Ryukyu Islands. Abstracts 23rd Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Sanitary Zoology, p4.
Tanaka, K., Mizusawa, K., & Saugstad, E.S. (1979). A revision of the adult and larval mosquitoes of Japan (including the Ryukyu Archipelago and Ogasawara Islands) and Korea (Diptera: Culicidae). Contributions of the American Entomological Institute, 16, 1–987.
Wilkerson, R.C., Li, C., Rueda, L.M., Kim, H., Klein, T.A., Song, G.-H., & Strickman, D. (2003). Molecular confirmation of Anopheles (Anopheles) lesteri from the Republic of South Korea and its genetic identity with An. (Ano.) anthropophagus from China (Diptera: Culicidae). Zootaxa, 378, 1–14.
Xu, J.-J., & Feng, L.-C. (1975). Studies on the Anopheles hyrcanus group of mosquitoes in China. Acta Entomologica Sinica, 18(1), 77–98.
CITE THIS PAGE
Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit (Year). Anopheles lesteri species page. Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit Website, http://wrbu.si.edu/vectorspecies/mosquitoes/lesteri, accessed on [date (e.g. 03 February 2020) when you last viewed the site].
