Scientists have discovered a new species of mosquito that carries the malaria parasite, according to research published in the Journal of Medical Entomology. Like four other mosquito species in Cameroon, the newly discovered species transmits the most deadly form of the disease.

The mosquito was found near Oveng, a village in southern Cameroon close to the nation's borders with Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. Physical and behavioural differences to known mosquito species led its discoverers to classify it as a new species.

The researchers suggest that the discovery of the new species will complicate efforts to tackle malaria in Cameroon, where the disease causes between 35 and 40 per cent of hospital deaths and 40 per cent of deaths of children under the age of five.

Link to full Reuters AlterNet news story

Link to abstract of paper by H. P. Awono-Ambene et al in the Journal of Medical Entomology