Services on Demand
Journal
Article
Indicators
- Cited by SciELO
- Access statistics
Related links
- Cited by Google
- Similars in SciELO
- Similars in Google
Share
Biomédica
Print version ISSN 0120-4157
Abstract
PACHECO, Miguel Alfonso; GONZALEZ, Ranulfo and BROCHERO, Helena Luisa. Anopheles darlingi (Diptera: Culicidae) Rood 1926: Morphometric variations in wings and legs of populations from Colombia. Biomédica [online]. 2017, vol.37, suppl.2, pp.124-134. ISSN 0120-4157. https://doi.org/10.7705/biomedica.v34i2.3492.
Introduction:
Natural populations of Anopheles darlingi, the main malaria vector in Colombia, have shown phenotypic variations in some of their diagnostic characters.
Objective:
To characterize morphometric variations in wing spot patterns and diagnostic characters of the hind leg of adult females of An. darlingi collected in areas where malaria is endemic.
Materials and methods:
Patterns of the costal vein spots of wild females of An. darling populations collected in the departments of Chocó, Guaviare, Meta and Vichada were analyzed using linear and morphometric approaches. The second tarsomere of the hind leg of females was characterized by linear morphometric analysis.
Results:
We found 19 patterns of spots in the costal vein; patterns I (n=118/240, 49%) and VI (n=66, 28%) were the most frequent. The proportion of the basal dark area of hind tarsomere II and the length of hind tarsomere II (DSIII2 /Ta-III2) constituted a robust diagnostic character as it represented 89% (n=213/240) of the total specimens studied. Significant differences were found in the wing shape (F=1.65, df =50, p<0.001) and the wing size (F=3.37, df=5, p=0.005) among populations from different locations. The smallest centroid size (2.64 mm) was found in populations from Chocó.
Conclusions.
We registered 11 new wing spot patterns in the costal vein and the dominance of the patterns I and VI for populations of An. darlingi from Colombia. We confirmed DSIII2/TaIII2 ratio as a robust diagnostic character for the taxonomy of this species. We found differences between the size and shape of the wings of An. darlingi populations in accordance to their geographical distribution, which constitute important bionomic aspects for this malaria vector.
Keywords : Anopheles; diseases vectors; body size; Colombia.