title: Wing geometry of Anopheles darlingi Root (Diptera: Culicidae) in five major Brazilian ecoregions.
abstract: We undertook geometric morphometric analysis of wing venation to assess this character's ability to distinguish Anopheles darlingi Root populations and to test the hypothesis that populations from coastal areas of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest differ from those of the interior Atlantic Forest, Cerrado, and the regions South and North of the Amazon River. Results suggest that populations from the coastal and interior Atlantic Forest are more similar to each other than to any of the other regional populations. Notably, the Cerrado population was more similar to that from north of the Amazon River than to that collected of south of the River, thus showing no correlation with geographical distances. We hypothesize that environmental and ecological factors may affect wing evolution in An. darlingi. Although it is premature to associate environmental and ecological determinants with wing features and evolution of the species, investigations on this field are promising.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Epidemiologia, Faculdade de Saúde Pública, Universidade de São Paulo, Avenida Doutor Arnaldo 715, CEP 01246-904, São Paulo, Brazil. maysatm@usp.br
authors.forename: Maysa Tiemi
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Motoki
authors.forename: Lincoln
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Suesdek
authors.forename: Eduardo Sterlino
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Bergo
authors.forename: Maria Anice Mureb
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Sallum
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D001938:Brazil; D017753:Ecosystem; D005260:Female; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D008297:Male; D009929:Organ Size; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014921:Wings, Animal / Q000033:anatomy & histology*