Wing geometry of Anopheles darlingi Root (Diptera: Culicidae) in five major Brazilian ecoregions

Abstract

We undertook geometric morphometric analysis of wing venation to assess this character's ability to distinguish Anopheles darlingi Root populations and to test the hypothesis that populations from coastal areas of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest differ from those of the interior Atlantic Forest, Cerrado, and the regions South and North of the Amazon River. Results suggest that populations from the coastal and interior Atlantic Forest are more similar to each other than to any of the other regional populations. Notably, the Cerrado population was more similar to that from north of the Amazon River than to that collected of south of the River, thus showing no correlation with geographical distances. We hypothesize that environmental and ecological factors may affect wing evolution in An. darlingi. Although it is premature to associate environmental and ecological determinants with wing features and evolution of the species, investigations on this field are promising.

Adaptative processes, control measures, genetic background, and resilience of malaria vectors and environmental changes in the Amazon region

“…Recently, two studies obtained samples from populations of A. darlingi collected in North, Southeast, and Central-west Brazil, based on a morphological analysis of the wing (Motoki et al, 2012) and SNP molecular markers (Emerson et al, 2015). No significant differences were found between these populations at the interspecific level.…”

Anopheles darlingi (Diptera: Culicidae) Rood 1926: Morphometric variations in wings and legs of populations from Colombia

“…Con respecto al tamaño del ala, se han encontrado cambios asociados a factores ambientales y ecológicos determinantes propios de las ecorregiones que ocupa la especie (15). El tamaño del ala ha sido un estimador indirecto del tamaño corporal en insectos de importancia médica (16).…”

Caracterização de populações de Culex coronator (Diptera: Culicidae) e distinção de fêmeas adultas de Culex coronator e Culex usquatus por meio da análise da morfometria geométrica de asa e de sequências gênicas

“…In contrast, the RJ population was from localities embedded in the coastal Atlantic Forest where ecological determinants are less heterogeneous than in the transition zone between Cerrado and Atlantic Forest. In a study that used geometric morphometric methods to investigate evolutionary association between biome and female wing shape in Anopheles darlingi, a primary mosquito vector of human Plasmodium, Motoki et al [33] suggested that wing shape variations could be caused by distinct selective pressures present in Cerrado and interior and coastal Atlantic Forest. Based on both the results of the present study and the findings of Motoki et al [33], it is possible that shallow Figure 5 Neighbor-joining phenogram generated from a Procrustes distance matrix of the seven populations of Culex coronator from Southeastern and Southern, Brazil.…”

“…Similarly, a study with dragonfly associated heterogeneities observed in the forewing shape with selective pressures represented by distinct landscapes, with the wing becoming broader from forested to open areas [47]. Although the effect of selection on the wing landmarks is not fully understood, wing shape characteristics have been effectively employed to address population structure associated with landscapes, habitat split and isolation in several arthropod species [32][33][34]48,49].…”

“…In this sense, geometric morphometrics can be used to quantify this variation. Currently, this method has been largely employed both in distinction of closely related species [28][29][30][31] as in microevolution studies [32][33][34][35][36]. Considering the lack of biological and ecological studies regarding Cx.…”