title: Distribution of individual members of the mosquito Anopheles maculipennis complex in Germany identified by newly developed real-time PCR assays.
abstract: Owing to their role as vectors of malaria parasites, species of the Anopheles maculipennis complex (Diptera: Culicidae) Meigen were intensively studied in the past, but with the disappearance of malaria in Germany in the middle of the last century, the interest in this field of research declined. A comprehensive ecological analysis of the current species distribution for Germany is lacking. Between 2010 and 2013, a total of 1445 mosquitoes of the An. maculipennis complex were collected at 72 different sites in Germany. The samples comprise 722 single individuals as well as 723 individuals in 90 pools of up to 25 mosquitoes. All samples were analysed with newly developed species-specific qPCR assays for the identification of the four German species using nucleotide differences within the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) ribosomal DNA. All gathered data were used for species distribution modelling. The overall prevalence of An. messeae s.l. was highest with 98.89% of all pools; An. daciae with 6.93% of all individuals and An. messeae s.s. with 69.53%. The prevalence of the other two species was relatively low: An. maculipennis s.s. with 13.30% of all individuals (6.67% of all pools) and An. atroparvus with 1.80% of all individuals (1.11% of all pools).
authors.affiliation: Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany.|Research Group Aquatic Ecology and Nature Conservation, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Germany.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lühken
authors.affiliation: Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Czajka
authors.affiliation: Research Group Aquatic Ecology and Nature Conservation, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Germany.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Steinke
authors.affiliation: Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany.|German Centre for Infection Research, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jöst
authors.affiliation: Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany.|German Centre for Infection Research, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schmidt-Chanasit
authors.affiliation: German Mosquito Control Association (KABS e.V.), Institute for Dipterology, Oldenburg, Waldsee, Germany.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Pfitzner
authors.affiliation: German Mosquito Control Association (KABS e.V.), Institute for Dipterology, Oldenburg, Waldsee, Germany.|University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.affiliation: Research Group Aquatic Ecology and Nature Conservation, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Germany.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kiel
authors.affiliation: Bundeswehr Hospital Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Krüger
authors.affiliation: Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany.|German Centre for Infection Research, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tannich
mesh_terms: D063147:Animal Distribution; D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / Q000235:genetics; D005858:Germany; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer
keywords: Anopheles maculipennis complex; identification; real-time PCR; species distribution modelling