Anopheles subpictus sensu lato (s.l) is a species complex of four reproductively distinct sibling species named An. subpictus A, B, C and D (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001706X10000343?via%3Dihub). Members of the species complex are widely distributed across mainland India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3766661/).

The species within the complex can play an important role in malaria transmission in different countries; some are primary vectors of malaria across Australasian and Indonesian islands and secondary vectors in Sri Lanka. As well as malaria, there is some research to suggest they are also competent vectors of Bancroftian lymphatic filariasis, West Nile Virus and Japanese encephalitis (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001706X10000343).

Although very closely related, species within the complex vary in their bionomics, insecticide susceptibility and vectorial capacity. In India, species A, C and D dominate inland areas, whereas species B is common around coastal areas (http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.399.533&rep=rep1&type=pdf). While differences therefore exist within the complex, the species has been found to oviposit in a wide range of environments, including; clear and turbid, flowing or stagnant, shallow or deep, vegetated or non-vegetated, fresh or brackish water bodies (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001706X10000343?via%3Dihub) .