Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Malaria

How vector mosquitoes beat the heat

Nature volume 516, pages 334–335 (2014)Cite this article

Subjects

Intensive longitudinal sampling of malaria mosquitoes in the African semi-desert reveals that three morphologically indistinguishable species have distinctive strategies for surviving the dry season. See Letter p.387

The scale-up of interventions against malaria in the past decade has reduced the global death rate of this disease by an impressive 42%. However, more than 600,000 malaria-related deaths still occur each year1 — 90% of them in sub-Saharan Africa — meaning that malaria remains one of the most significant sources of infectious-disease mortality. Africa has long been recognized as a crucible for malaria-control efforts, owing to its particular blend of widespread and dominant mosquito species that transmit malaria. One of the great mysteries of malariology has been how these vector populations survive the dry season, when there is little water in which the mosquitoes can lay their eggs. In this issue Dao et al.2 (page 387) report that they have solved this mystery, but the answer is surprisingly complex, like the vectors themselves.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Species-specific population dynamics.

References

  1. www.who.int/malaria/publications/world_malaria_report_2013/en/

  2. Dao, A. et al. Nature 516, 387–386 (2014) (2014).

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Coluzzi, M. Bull. WHO 62 (suppl.), 107–113 (1984).

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Denlinger, D. L. & Armbruster, P. A. Annu. Rev. Entomol. 59, 73–93 (2014).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Sohn, E. Nature 511, 144–146 (2014).

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Coetzee, M. et al. Zootaxa 3619, 246–274 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Powell, J. R., Petrarca, V., della Torre, A., Caccone, A. & Coluzzi, M. Parassitologia 41, 101–113 (1999).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nora J. Besansky is at the Eck Institute for Global Health and Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556-0369, USA.,

    Nora J. Besansky

Authors
  1. Nora J. Besansky
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nora J. Besansky.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Besansky, N. How vector mosquitoes beat the heat. Nature 516, 334–335 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14073

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14073

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing