Occurrence of Anopheles hermsi (Diptera : Culicidae) in Arizona and Colorado

Historically, malaria was a significant cause of morbidity and mortality th roughout the western United States, and Anopheles freeborni Aitken was thou ght to be the vector west of the Continental Divide. In 1989, Anopheles her msi Barr & Guptavanij was described and subsequently found to be an effecti ve laboratory vector of Plasmodium. The adults of these two species are mor phologically indistinguishable, and therefore polymerase chain reaction was used to analyze the DNA from 48 mosquitoes collected in Arizona and Colora do (identified morphologically as An. freeborni). All specimens were identi fied as An. hermsi. This was the first report of An. hermsi in Arizona and Colorado and indicated that this Anopheles species historically may have be en a malaria vector in these two western states.