One larva of around 1 mm will hatch from each egg. The aquatic larva of the Anopheles mosquito feeds by filtering organic debris and microorganisms found in water. There are four larval stages, separated by three larval molts. The stage four larva measures 5 mm to 1 cm.

The fourth stage larva carries out a special molt, known as nymphosis and becomes a pupa. This latter frees a mobile aquatic pupa, which does not eat. Far-reaching changes in its morphology take place during the pupal stage. The organs belonging to the larva stage (filter-shredder device, digestive detrivorous-filtration system) are destroyed; the organs characteristic of the adult which were present in a skeletal state in the larva (wings, legs, piercing-sucking mouth part, blood-feeding digestive system) appear.

An adult, male or female will emerge from the pupa, and will quickly fly off. It is during the airborne phase that the newly born female will be inseminated, most often in a swarm of males, that come together at dusk. The spermatozoa are introduced into the copulatory pouch of the female, then they will migrate to a spermatheca, a sort of annex of the female sexual system, where they conserve their fecundative power for several weeks, until the female dies.

Males and females feed on sugar sources, nectar and other vegetal exudates. The male is incapable of perforating the skin of a vertebrate. Only the female feed on blood: a blood meal is not indispensable for its survival, but it is for its ovarian maturity, which normally comprises 150 eggs in the case of Anopheles gambiae. The fecundation is carried out in the genital tract of the female, spermatozoa are freed from the spermatheca during egg-laying.

At a temperature of 25 °C, the duration of the pre-imaginal phase is around ten days in the case of Anopheles gambiae and around twenty days for Anopheles funestus. This phase lengthens as the temperature drops and shortens when it rises (five days at 30 °C in the case of Anopheles gambiae).

The life cycle of the adult female Anopheles mosquito is around three weeks, hardly more than a month in normal conditions. It is shorter for the male. It is generally accepted that the mortality of the female Anopheles mosquito is not constant, but increases with age, more particularly after around twenty days of adult life in the case of Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles funestus.

The average dispersion of the adult Anopheles mosquitoes from their larval home is around 1 km to 1.6 km, but may reach up to 3 km. The distance of 7 km is the largest distance observed for Anopheles gambiae.

In tropical areas, growth of most of the mosquito species continues throughout the year, with seasonal variations in density linked to climatic conditions. During the dry season, especially in the Sahel and the Sahara, these conditions become quite unsuitable, leading to the apparent disappearance of the anopheline populations. Estivation, a physiological state of dormancy which gives the adult a longer life in the summer whilst awaiting the return of the rainy season, has been observed solely in the case of Anopheles arabiensis, in Sudan.