Larvivorous fish in wells target the malaria vector sibling species of the Anopheles culicifacies complex in villages in Karnataka, India

Malaria was a major problem in a sericulture area of Karnataka, south India, where Anopheles culicifacies s.l. and A. fluviatilis s.l. were considered to be the main vectors. Sibling species complexes of these two species were analysed in three ecologically different villages. Among A. culicifacies, only sibling species A and B were found. In Puram, a village with 22 wells, species A predominated; species B predominated in a village with four wells and a stream, and in a village with a stream and no wells. Poecilia reticulata fish were introduced into all wells and streams in the villages, and after one year no vectors were found in Puram, and all, or nearly all, A. culicifacies were species B in the other two villages. All A. fluviatilis belonged to the sibling species T. Blood meal analysis indicated that a few of the A. culicifacies collected had fed on humans while all the A. fluviatilis had fed on bovines. Before the introduction of fish, the annual parasite incidence for malaria was high in Puram, but much lower in the other two villages. From 1998 (over one year after release of fish) until 2003, no malaria cases were detected in the three villages.