Link to HAL – Click here
Link to DOI – 10.3389/fitd.2022.949300
Front. Trop. Dis. 3:949300.
Anopheles darlingi is a major vector of both Plasmodium falciparum and
Plasmodium vivax in South and Central America including French Guiana.
However, the vector competence and physiology of this mosquito species
have been scarcely studied due to difficulties in rearing it in the laboratory.
Here, we report the successful establishment of a robust colony, from a
mosquito collection in French Guiana. We describe our mosquito
colonization procedure with relevant information on environmental
conditions, mating ability, larval development, and survival, recorded over the
first six critical generations. Experimental infection showed that our An. darlingi
colony has a moderate permissiveness to in vitro produced gametocytes of the
P. falciparum NF54 strain originating from Africa. This colony, which has
reached its 21st generation, will allow further characterization of An. darlingi
life-history traits and of Plasmodium–mosquito interactions with South
American malaria parasites.