BackgroundThe burden of malaria infection in the modern world remains significant. Specific changes in the relative proportions of malaria vector mosquitoes, Maculipennis Complex species, in the south of Western Siberia over the past 25 years of the 20th century have attracted wide attention as an indicator of their dynamic geographical distribution. In Eurasia, studies of fluctuations in the borders of areas occupied by sibling species of this complex, as well as their relative proportions in the areas where they are sympatric are epidemiologically important.MethodsSpecies identity and chromosomal polymorphisms within each population were defined by cytogenetic analysis of polytene chromosomes of third- and fourth-instar larvae and adult females of Anopheles mosquitoes collected over the period from 1973 to 2012. A total of 37 Anopheles samples (3,757 specimens) from the Ukraine, European Russia and the Urals were studied. To identify An. messeae s.l. cryptic species A and B, polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphisms of the second internal transcribed spacer rRNA genes sequences (ITS2 PCR-RFLP) were used.ResultsAn. maculipennis s.s. is expanding to the northeast at a speed of approximately 30 km per year. In 2008 or 2009, this species appeared in the Southern Urals. The emergence of An. maculipennis in this region was accompanied by a decrease in the proportions of An. messeae A and An. beklemishevi and by an increase in the proportion of An. messeae B within An. messeae s.l. It is highly likely that the southwestern border of An. beklemishevi distribution area could shift in the same direction as expanding area of An. maculipennis.ConclusionsThe geographical distribution of the Palaearctic mosquito species of the Maculipennis Complex is undergoing a gradual shift. Changes detected in the species distribution can be considered as a component of the biocenotic process triggered by global warming. Both the warming itself and consequent expansion of An. maculipennis s.s. to the northeast, followed by changes in the species composition of Anopheles as well as their relative proportions and fluctuations in the species areas, exacerbate the epidemiology of malaria infection in Eurasia.

The ecological features and geographic distribution of Anopheles beklemishevi have not been studied extensively. These studies are important in connection with the validity of the ' Anopheles lewisi' taxon. The materials were collected in Russia and Kazakhstan from 1973 to 2012, and species identity was defined by cytogenetic analysis of polytene chromosomes of larvae and adult females. A total of 7,896 specimens from 34 geographic locations was included in the analysis. It was established that An. beklemishevi is distributed from the east coast of the Baltic Sea to the basin of the Lena River, and from the forest-tundra zone to the Altai and Sayan Mountain systems. This species is exophilic and is confined to high and/or swampy terrains found in the zone of conifer and mixed forests. The frequency of An. beklemishevi in the southwestern area, where it is sympatric with An. messeae s.l., has significantly decreased over the past decades. The results of the study indirectly suggest that An. beklemishevi does not play a significant role as a vector of malaria. It is highly improbable that An. beklemishevi and An. lewisi are the same species. Changes in the proportions of the species of the Maculipennis complex, as well as a shift of their ranges, will significantly impact the epidemiology of malaria over large areas of northern Eurasia. Journal of Vector Ecology 41 (2): 204-214. 2016.

Сryptic species of Anopheles messeae sensu lato (Diptera: Culicidae), their identification, features and nomenclatureThe paper describes the change in perspective in the composition of the A. messeae taxonomic unit. Initially, based on the disequilibrium of natural populations, the species was differentiated into A and B forms using chromosomal inversions as markers. The positive assortative mating, as well as the ecological features and geographical distribution of these forms, made it possible to give them the status of species in statu nascendi. Later, we additionally investigated the EcoRI restriction fragments of the genomic DNA and the ITS2 nucleotide sequences in the A and B A. messeae species. Unambiguous differences between the species in the former marker and semi-quantitative differences in the latter one, alongside with the absence of hybrids in the populations studied, led us to conclude that A. messeae s.l. is comprised of two homosequential cryptic species with parallel chromosomal polymorphisms. Unequivocal parallels between A. lewisi Ludlow, 1920 and A. messeae B in regards to their features, as well as the identity of A. daciae Linton et al., 2004 to A. messeae A in its ITS2 sequence, and to A. messeae Fall. in diagnostic chromosomal inversions, allowed us to consider A.

No abstract