An entomological study was carried out in coastal Lagos, south-western Nigeria, to explore the role of Anopheles gambiae s.l. and An. moucheti in the transmission of Plasmodium falciparum in this holo-endemic area. Mosquitoes were caught, on human bait at night and by pyrethrum-spray catches during the day, twice a month throughout 2000.

Of the 1812 Anopheles mosquitoes collected, An. gambiae s.l., the predominant vector species, represented 78.7% while the other 21.3% were An. moucheti. The results of a PCR-based test identified 56.8% of the mosquitoes of the An. gambiae complex collected as An. gambiae s.s. , 36.9% as An. melas and 6.3% as An. arabiensis. Anopheles gambiae s.s. was predominantly recorded in the wet season, biting females being collected from May to October, with a peak in July. Anopheles melas and An. moucheti were present throughout the yearlong study whereas An. arabiensis was mainly found in the dry season.

The results of ELISA-based analyses of bloodmeals indicated that An. gambiae s.s., An. melas and An. moucheti were predominantly anthropophagic whereas An. arabiensis was largely zoophagic. Among all of the females investigated, 3.6% of the An. gambiae s.s., 1.9% of the An. melas , 1.8% of the An. moucheti and 0% of the An. arabiensis were found to be infected with P. falciparum (i.e. carrying the parasite's circumsporozoite antigen). The corresponding proportions for the females collected during the dry season were 1.3%, 2.3%, 2.7% and 0%. The entomological inoculation rates for An. melas and An. moucheti were significantly higher during the dry season than at other times of the year. Taken together, these results indicate that An. melas and An. moucheti maintain transmission of P. falciparum during the dry season, while the biting population of An. gambiae s.s. is relatively small.