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Cytogenetic evidence for a species complex within Anopheles pseudopunctipennis theobald (Diptera: Culicidae)
M Coetzee1, J G Estrada-Franco, C A Wunderlich
1Department of Tropical Diseases, School of Pathology of the South African Institute for Medical Research and the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
Abstract:
Anopheles pseudopunctipennis was collected from Acapulco, Mexico and Sallee River, Grenada, West Indies and used in cross-mating experiments. Larvae from the cross, Mexico female X Grenada male, died in the third instar. However, adult progeny were obtained from the reciprocal cross Grenada female x Mexico male. These hybrid males had testes with apparently normal appearance but some without viable sperm. Polytene chromosomes obtained from hybrid females exhibited extensive asynapsis of the X chromosomes. Previously undescribed fixed inversion differences between the two populations were noted on the X chromosome. It is concluded that the two populations belong to different species. The Grenada population is designated An. pseudopunctipennis species C, since it is the third taxon recognized in this species complex.