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In the south and southeast regions of Brazil, cases of malaria occur outside the endemic Amazon region near the Atlantic Forest in some coastal states, where <i>Plasmodium vivax</i> is the recognized parasite. Characteristics of cases and vectors, especially <i>Anopheles (Kerteszia) cruzii</i>, raise the hypothesis of a zoonosis with simians as reservoirs. The present review aims to report on investigations of the disease over a 23-year period. Two main sources have provided epidemiological data: the behavior of <i>Anopheles</i> vectors and the genetic and immunological aspects of <i>Plasmodium</i> spp. obtained from humans, <i>Alouatta</i> simians, and <i>Anopheles</i> spp. mosquitoes. <i>Anopheles (K.) cruzii</i> is the most captured species in the forest canopy and is the recognized vector. The similarity between <i>P. vivax</i> and <i>Plasmodium simium</i> and that between <i>Plasmodium malariae</i> and <i>Plasmodium brasilianum</i> shared between simian and human hosts and the involvement of the same vector in the transmission to both hosts suggest interspecies transfer of the parasites. Finally, recent evidence points to the presence of <i>Plasmodium falciparum</i> in a silent cycle, detected only by molecular methods in asymptomatic individuals and <i>An. (K.) cruzii</i>. In the context of malaria elimination, it is paramount to assemble data about transmission in such non-endemic low-incidence areas.