Abai, MR

6th International Congress of DipterologyBiting and resting behaviors of the main malaria vector,Anopheles stephensi liston in an endemic area of southernIranEdalat, H., H. Vatandoost, SH. Moosa kazemi & HR. BasseriDepartment of Medical Entomology, School of Public Health, Tehran University ofMedical Sciences, Tehran, IranMalaria is one of the most common parasitic infections that had infectedand killed many people from long time ago. Malaria is still endemic insouthern parts of Iran particularly in Sistan and Baluchistan, Hormozganand south of Kerman provinces . Anopheles stephensi is the main malariavector in those areas where anti-malaria program highly concern. Thisstudy was carried out in the mountainous area of Hormozgan province withrespect to biting and resting behavior. In order to determine biting activityof this species, human and animal landing collection method was used. Theresults showed that, this species is active during the night from sunset tosunrise and the maximum biting activities was observed between 22:00 and02:00 hours. The number of collected specimens on animal was 12 timesmore than human. With the purpose of study on resting behavior, differentmethods of mosquito collecting from outdoors and indoors shelters wereperformed. Totally, 2878 Anopheles stephensi were caught while 67% (n= 1928) of them collected by pyrethrum spray collection methods fromindoor places which indicated that, this species is highly endophil.Therefore, the residual insecticides would be more effective to control ofthis species.Key Words: malaria, Anopheles, resting, biting, southern Iran∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗67