RESUMENLa malaria fue erradicada de España oficialmente en 1964. Sin embargo, en la actualidad en nuestro país se registran anualmente cientos de casos importados. En este sentido, el estudio del vector se postula de gran importancia para inferir posibles escenarios de transmisión, ya sea de tipo esporádico o regular. Si bien el nivel socio-económico del país no parece secundar una posible reemergencia de la enfermedad a corto o medio plazo, la presencia de poblaciones de anofelinos bien establecidas y gametocitos de plasmodios circulando entre cierto porcentaje de la población humana parecen avalar, con suficiente crédito, el mantenimiento del estado de vigilancia epidemiológica. Además, la globalización de mercados y el emergente proceso de cambio climático, pueden permitir la colonización de nuestro territorio por parte de especies de Anopheles transmisoras de plasmodiosis humana en regiones tropicales y subtropicales. Con el objetivo de profundizar en el conocimiento de la riqueza faunística, distribución espacial y bioecología de los culícidos anofelinos, se llevaron a cabo diversos muestreos larvarios intensivos la Comunidad Valenciana, región con suficiente heterogeneidad hídrica y datos históricos de prevalencia palúdica, como para respaldar su elección. Cinco especies del género Anopheles, con distinta trascendencia en la difusión de la enfermedad, fueron identificadas.Palabras clave: Malaria. Anopheles. España. Mosquitos. Biodiversidad. Vector. Plasmodium. ABSTRACT Malaria in Spain: Entomological Aspects and Future OutlookMalaria was officially eradicated in Spain in 1964. However, at the present time, hundreds of imported cases are registered in our country each year. In this context, the study of the vector is seen to be highly significant in order to infer possible transmission scenarios, whether of a sporadic or a regular nature. Although the socio-economic level of the country does not appear to foreshadow the possible reemergence of the disease in the short and medium term, the presence of well-established populations of anophelini and plasmodium gametocytes circulating in a certain percentage of the human population does appear to warrant the continuation of the current status of epidemiological surveillance. Moreover, the globalisation of markets and the emerging process of climate change could enable the colonisation of our territory by part of the Anopheles species that transmit human plasmodiosis in tropical and subtropical regions. In order to obtain a more thorough knowledge of the range of fauna, spatial distribution and bioecology of the anopheline Culicoides, a number of intensive larval samplings were taken in the Community of Valencia, a region with sufficient surface water heterogeneity and historical data of malaria prevalence to substantiate the decision to choose it for this study. Five species of the Anopheles genus, with varying degrees of impact in the dissemination of the disease, were identified.

Wetlands provide multiple services to human societies. Despite policies dedicated to their protection, current European policies do not address the need to balance mosquito management approaches to mitigate dis‐services to human health and well‐being while ensuring that wetland conservation goals are met. Herein, we outline criteria for consideration when developing mosquito control programmes in European wetlands that will allow managers and public health authorities to adopt effective and ecologically sound approaches. Synthesis and applications. The proposed code of practice provides practical advice to local authorities and those involved in mosquito control in order to design an integrated mosquito management strategy that aligns with current environmental legislation. Although this code of practice was developed by European experts, it is transferable to other geographical contexts, integrating the expertise and knowledge of local stakeholders and researchers from the fields of medical entomology, human and animal health and ecology.

Intensive larval samplings of mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) were carried out between 2005 and 2008 in several biotopes located in a varying climate region in Eastern Spain. The biodiversity was analyzed and divided into alpha, beta and gamma components with the aim of comparing the mosquito biodiversity according to the different structure of the landscape due to the incidence of climatic and anthropic patterns. Likewise the synanthropic index of Nuorteva was calculated for each species. A total of 11,279 mosquitoes belonging to 29 species was collected and identified. Mosquito biodiversity is higher in the wettest and nonanthropized areas. Using a cluster analysis, all this information was also used to group the different regions studied depending on its mosquito fauna. Moreover the re-emergence of antroponosis, like malaria, seems unlikely given the low values of the synanthropic index for the anophelines captured.

The recent increase in immigration to Spain has facilitated the importation of many tropical diseases. Among these diseases, those of vectorial origin are among the most difficult to study. Some of the reasons for this difficulty are the complexity due to the variety of hosts involved in the transmission cycles and the need to know all the physiological, bioecological and biogeographic parameters related to the vector in order to infer the actual possibilities of the emergence or reemergence of these diseases. This article provides information on imported diseases of unquestionable epidemiological interest for the population in Spain due to the presence of several species of culicid mosquitoes (Diptera, Culicidae) capable of transmitting these diseases in our country. Parasitic diseases such as malaria, which was highly endemic in Spain until 50 years ago, and other arboviral infections such as dengue and yellow fever, are analyzed in these terms. Various aspects related to the health system, as well as the different ways of tackling these issues, are also discussed.