Morphological analysis of three populations of Anopheles (Nyssorhynchus) nuneztovari Gabaldón (Diptera: Culicidae) from Colombia.
Based on the results of comparative analyses of 1,039 specimens of several progenies of Anopheles nuneztovarifrom three localities in Colombia, eight costal wing spot patterns were observed. Patterns I and III were the most frequent: 77.96% and 11.36%, respectively. Using the diagnostic characters ratio of the length of the basal dark area of hind tarsomere II/length of hind tarsomere II, ratio of the length of the humeral pale spot/length of the pre-humeral dark spot, and the ratio of the length of the subcostal pale spot/length of the distal sector dark spot (DS-III2/Ta-III2, HP/PHD, SCP/DSD) approximately 5% of the adult females were misidentified as a species of Nyssorhynchus, different from An. nuneztovari. Approximately 5% of the specimens showed DS-III2/Ta-III2 ratio less than 0.25 (range 0.21 - 0.24), and among them 3.34% shared a HP/PHD ratio less than 1.50. Consequently, 1.52% of An. nuneztovari individuals can be misidentified as Anopheles oswaldoi. In those specimens with the DS-III2/Ta-III2 ratios higher than 0.25, 34.45% displayed SCP/DSD values greater than 0.50 and of these, 3.65% displayed HP/PHD values greater than 1.8. This combination of characters could lead one to misidentify samples of An. nuneztovari as Anopheles rangeli. Similarly, 2.43% of the females could be identified erroneously as either Anopheles aquasalis or Anopheles benarrochi. Individuals with a HP/PHD ratio greater than 2.0, could be misidentified as Anopheles trinkae, Anopheles strodei or Anopheles evansae. A distinct combination of diagnostic characters for An. nuneztovari from Colombia is proposed.
Fajardo Ramos
Mayury
M
Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas y Facultad de Salud, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia.
González Obando
Ranulfo
R
Fidel Suárez
Marco
M
López
David
D
Wilkerson
Richard
R
Sallum
Maria Anice Mureb
MA
D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000145:classification; D003105:Colombia; D005260:Female; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000145:classification; D008297:Male; D013045:Species Specificity; D014921:Wings, Animal / Q000033:anatomy & histology