composition of anopheles species collected from selected malarious areas of afghanistan and iran

<p><strong>background: </strong>malarious areas in iran are close to afghanistan and pakistan that urge the researchers to extend their knowledge on malaria epidemiology to the neighboring countries as well. vectorial capacity differs at species or even at population level, the first essential step is accurate identification of vectors. this study aimed to identify <em>anopheles</em> species composition in selected malarious areas of afghanistan and iran, providing further applied data for other research in two countries.<strong><br />methods: </strong>adults <em>anopheles </em>spp. were collected from four provinces in afghanistan (badakhshan, herat, kunduz, nangarhar) by pyrethrum spray catch, hand collection methods through who/emro coordination and from chaba­har county in iran by pyrethrum spray catch method. identification was performed using reliable identification key.<br /><strong>results: </strong>totally, 800 female <em>anopheles</em> mosquitos, 400 from each country were identified at species level. <em>anophe­les </em>composition in afghanistan was <em>an.</em><em> superpictus</em>, <em>an. </em><em>stephensi</em> and <em>an. </em><em>hyrcanus</em>. most prevalent species in ba­dakhshan and kunduz were<em> an. superpictus</em>, whereas <em>an. stephensi</em> and <em>an. hyrcanus</em> were respectively found in nangarhar and heart.<em> anopheles</em> species in chabahar county of iran were<em> an. stephensi</em>, <em>an. </em><em>fluviatilis</em>, <em>an. </em><em>culicifa­cies</em> and <em>an. </em><em>sergentii</em>. the most prevalent species was <em>an. stephensi.</em><strong></strong><strong><br />conclusion: </strong>current study provides a basis for future research such as detection of <em>plasmodium</em> infection in col­lected samples which is on process by the authors, also for effective implementation of evidencebased malaria vec­tor intervention strategies.</p>