Anophelines collected indoors and in the peri-domiciliary area in 3 localities in the Amazon region, state of Acre, Brazil, from August 1990 to January 1991 were examined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using specific monoclonal antibodies directed against the repeats of the circumsporozoite proteins of Plasmodium falciparum, P. vivax, P. vivax V247, and P. malariae. Of the 3056 specimens collected, 2610 were Anopheles oswaldoi, 362 A. deaneorum, 60 A. triannulatus and 24 were A. darlingi. The infection rates of A. oswaldoi were 3.41% for P. falciparum, 2.26% for P. vivax, 1.22 for P. vivax VK247, and 0.42% for P. malariae. For A. deaneorum, the infection rates were 2.76% for P. falciparum, 0.55% for P. vivax, and 0.82% for P. vivax VK247. All samples of the other 2 species collected (A. triannulatus and A. darlingi) were negative in the ELISA. There were certain differences in the anopheline distribution and infection rates between these localities, and in one only A. oswaldoi was found to be infected. These results strongly point to A. oswaldoi as the main malaria vector in the region. No difference was found between the potential vectors of P. vivax and P. vivax VK247. The significance of these findings for malaria control is discussed.
Sequence divergence in the second internal transcribed spacer (ITS2) of ribosomal DNA was examined for female specimens of Anopheles oswaldoi Peryassu from 7 localities in South America. The lengths of ITS2 for all mosquitoes ranged from 348 to 356 nucleotides. After alignment of these sequences, similarity ranged from 87 to 100%. Divergence was within the range of inter-specific differences for members of anopheline species complexes. Therefore, specimens were placed into 4 groups that may correspond to at least 4 cryptic species. One is probably related to An. oswaldoi sensu stricto and another to Anopheles konderi Galvão & Damasceno. The other 2 groups may correspond to species for which morphological identification remains to be clarified. These data provide evidence that An. oswaldoi comprise a complex of cryptic species and that DNA identification may help to resolve the taxonomic questions related to this group.
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