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Background  Besides feeding on blood, females of the malaria vector  Anopheles gambiae  sensu lato readily feed on natural sources of plant sugars. The impact of toxic secondary phytochemicals contained in plant-derived sugars on mosquito physiology and the development of  Plasmodium  parasites remains elusive. The focus of this study was to explore the influence of the alkaloid ricinine, found in the nectar of the castor bean  Ricinus communis , on the ability of mosquitoes to transmit  Plasmodium falciparum .    Methods  Females of  Anopheles gambiae  and its sibling species  Anopheles coluzzii  were exposed to ricinine through sugar feeding assays to assess the effect of this phytochemical on mosquito survival, level of  P. falciparum  infection and growth rate of the parasite.    Results  Ricinine induced a significant reduction in the longevity of both  Anopheles  species. Ricinine caused acceleration in the parasite growth rate with an earlier invasion of the salivary glands in both species. At a concentration of 0.04 g l −1  in  An. coluzzii , ricinine had no effect on mosquito infection, while 0.08 g l −1  ricinine-5% glucose solution induced a 14% increase in  An. gambiae  infection rate.    Conclusions  Overall, our findings reveal that consumption of certain nectar phytochemicals can have unexpected and contrasting effects on key phenotypic traits that govern the intensity of malaria transmission. Further studies will be required before concluding on the putative role of ricinine as a novel control agent, including the development of ricinine-based toxic and transmission-blocking sugar baits. Testing other secondary phytochemicals in plant nectar will provide a broader understanding of the impact which plants can have on the transmission of vector-borne diseases.    Graphical abstractSupplementary Information  The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13071-021-04992-z.

Contrasting effects of the alkaloid ricinine on the capacity of Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles coluzzii to transmit Plasmodium falciparum