Recent field experiments demonstrated the possibility of using the sterile male method for the control of Anopheles albimanus Wiedemann, the most important vector of human malaria in Central America. Until now there was no practical method for excluding females from the releases of sterile males. A genetic method was developed for the preferential elimination of females during any of the four life stages. This genetic sexing system utilizes propoxur ( o -isopropoxyphenyl methyl-carbamate) susceptibility as a recessive conditional lethal, a T(Y:2R) translocation, and an In(2R)inversion. The propoxur resistance allele (dominant) was linked to the Y chromosome via a radiation-induced translocation, and genetic recombination was suppressed by inversions. In one of the strains produced, 99.7 percent of the females are eliminated when treated with propoxur, without male loss.

Several translocation and translocation-inversion strains were induced in Anopheles albimanus Wiedemann by using X and gamma irradiation. The propoxur resistance allele (prr), located on chromosome arm 2R, was used to screen for T(Y;2R) translocations and In(2R) inversions. Six T(Y;2R) translocations and eight In(2R) inversions are described herein. The strains designated In(2R)[T(Y:2R)3]2 and In(2R)[T(Y;2R)6]4 eliminated 99.8% and 99.7%, respectvely, of the crossing over between the translocation breakpoint and the prr locus. A direct correlation is shown between genetic map units and physical distance (micrometers) of the polytene chromosome. Inversions are shown to eliminate recombinants in excess of the expected value based on physical size of the aberration. The Y chromosome, which is heterochromatic and located in the chromocenter in polytene complements, is visible in two terminal translocations.

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