Susceptibility of Anopheles quadriannulatus theobald (Diptera: Culicidae) to Plasmodium falciparum

Anopheles quadriannulatus, the cattle-feeding member of the An. gambiae complex, was fed human blood which contained cultured gametocytes of Plasmodium falciparum, using a membrane feeding system. After 7 days, 33-80% of the mosquitoes that took a blood meal contained developing oocysts. In 7 out of 12 females sporozoites were found in the salivary glands 14 days after the infectious blood meal. Control groups of An. gambiae s.s. and An. stephensi became readily infected with > 90% developing oocysts. All of the An. gambiae dissected 14 days after the infectious blood meal had sporozoites in their salivary glands. The results demonstrate that An. quadriannulatus is susceptible to infections with P. falciparum.