Molecular evidence for synonymy of Anopheles yatsushiroensis and An. pullus

Identification of species members of the Hyrcanus Group of Anopheles is difficult because of intraspecific variation in and interspecific similarity among key characters. Hibernating female Anopheles pullus were collected and 6 adults were individually reared. All F1 progeny of wild-caught An. pullus were morphologically identical to An. yatsushiroensis. The 5.8S rDNA-ITS2-28S rDNA region from each of 3 An. pullus and An. yatsushiroensis (wild-caught females) and a portion of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase 1 genes from 1 individual of the 2 species were sequenced. The same gene regions from an An. sinensis were sequenced to determine the degree of interspecific sequence variation within the Hyrcanus Group. Consensus sequence of the 5.8S rDNA-ITS2-28S rDNA region from 3 individual An. pullus was completely identical to that from 3 individual An. yatsushiroensis. Examination of molecular data obtained from nuclear DNA and mitochondrial DNA as well as morphological observations in rearing experiments support synonymy of An. yatsushiroensis and An. pullus in Korea.