The role of spiders in biological control of Anopheles mosquitoes and reducing the spread of malaria

Malaria is a common infectious disease in some parts of the world, especially Africa and SoutheastAsia. Although many efforts have been made by various international organizations, this disease stillexists as an epidemic in some areas. So far, various physical and chemical methods have been used tocontrol this disease, which in some cases have had harmful consequences such as environmentalpollution and vector resistance to chemical toxins and pesticides. One of the ways to control malariadisease is to control the Anopheles mosquito population as the vector of this disease. The use ofbiological and scientific methods, including genetic manipulation of Anopheles mosquitoes and theuse of natural predators of Anopheles mosquitoes, such as spiders, can be suitable solutions to reducethe spread of the disease in the world. Spiders are a group of arthropods that have a high number andspecies diversity and live in most parts of the world. A group of jumping spiders of the familySalticidae are specialized to feed on mosquitoes, which feed on vertebrate blood. Few species of thesespider has also been reported from Iran, and of course, considering the size of the country, high habitatdiversity, and few systematic and faunal studies in many areas, there is a possibility of the presence ofmore species. Although the biological control of Anopheles mosquitoes by these spiders is a usefulway to reduce the mosquito population and control malaria, it is not a definitive alternative to commoncontrol methods.Key words: Anopheles.