Cytotaxonomic evidence for the presence of Anopheles nivipes in India.
Anopheles philippinensis mosquitoes were collected from 5 states in India: Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Nagaland. Half-gravid females were examined for variations in wing venation using the presector dark mark on vein I and polytene chromosomes derived from ovarian nurse cells. Polytene chromosomes were examined for diagnostic inversions, t on chromosome arm 2 and I on arm 5. Based on wing characteristics, both An. philippinensis and An. nivipes were identified. Polytene chromosome examinations revealed that all specimens from these 2 populations had 2t; 51 inversion genotype, a diagnostic character for An. nivipes. The wing character was not diagnostic; therefore, it was concluded that all the specimens examined were actually An. nivipes and not An. philippinensis. Further, the X chromosome was of x+b type, that is, the standard arrangement with reference to the inversion b, reported in the An. nivipes population in Thailand. This is the 1st report that unequivocally establishes the occurrence of An. nivipes in India and also shows that the adult wing character is not reliable in distinguishing An. philippinensis from An. nivipes, as has been observed in Thailand.
Subbarao
S K
SK
Malaria Research Centre (ICMR), Delhi, India.
Kumar
K V
KV
Nanda
N
N
Nagpal
B N
BN
Dev
V
V
Sharma
V P
VP
D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D002871:Chromosome Banding; D002875:Chromosomes / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D005260:Female; D007194:India