Abstract

This work was carried out with the aim to evaluate the impact of the lodging depth of Anopheles gambiae larvae on life features that characterize the population’s fitness of this significant vector of human malaria. The study noted that depth is a significant factor that can considerably influence dynamics of the A. gambiae populations. Thus, on one hand depth increases the duration of larval stages from 8.16 days at 3 cm to 11.23 days at 25 cm depth, and on the other hand depth does not affect the survival of larvae. Depth reduces nymph mass from 2.1 mg at 0.5 cm to 1.4 mg at 25 cm depth. The size of adults is also influenced by this factor in both sexes. Among females, wings length passes from 3.6 mm at 1 cm to 2.8 mm at 25 cm depth, while width varies from 1 mm at 1 cm to 0.6 mm at 25 cm depth. For males, the wings length passes from 3.4 mm at 1 cm to 2.6 mm at 25 cm depth. The wings width passes from 0.97 mm at 1 cm to 0.79 mm at 25 cm depth. Depth acts even on the fecundity of females. Size of oviposition decreases from 117.61 eggs per female at 6 cm to 72.00 eggs per female at 25 cm and the hatching rate varies from 99.54% at 6 cm to 62.03% at 25 cm depth.

Key words: Anopheles gambiae, habitat depth, larvae, fecundity, fitness.