Diversification of the Genus Anopheles and a Neotropical Clade from the Late Cretaceous

Abstract

The Anopheles genus is a member of the Culicidae family and consists of approximately 460 recognized species. The genus is composed of 7 subgenera with diverse geographical distributions. Despite its huge medical importance, a consensus has not been reached on the phylogenetic relationships among Anopheles subgenera. We assembled a comprehensive dataset comprising the COI, COII and 5.8S rRNA genes and used maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference to estimate the phylogeny and divergence times of six out of the seven Anopheles subgenera. Our analysis reveals a monophyletic group composed of the three exclusively Neotropical subgenera, Stethomyia, Kerteszia and Nyssorhynchus, which began to diversify in the Late Cretaceous, at approximately 90 Ma. The inferred age of the last common ancestor of the Anopheles genus was ca. 110 Ma. The monophyly of all Anopheles subgenera was supported, although we failed to recover a significant level of statistical support for the monophyly of the Anopheles genus. The ages of the last common ancestors of the Neotropical clade and the Anopheles and Cellia subgenera were inferred to be at the Late Cretaceous (ca. 90 Ma). Our analysis failed to statistically support the monophyly of the Anopheles genus because of an unresolved polytomy between Bironella and A. squamifemur.

The complete mitochondrial genome ofAnopheles minimus(Diptera: Culicidae) and the phylogenetics of knownAnophelesmitogenomes

“…Sallum et al (2000) demonstrated the monophyly of Cellia and paraphyly of the subgenus Anopheles, and Krzywinski et al (2001a, b) proposed that both Cellia and Anopheles are monophyletic. The subsequent studies supported the monophyletic status of Cellia and Anopheles (Sallum et al, 2002;Harbach & Kitching, 2005;Harbach, 2013;Freitas et al, 2015). In the present study, only one specie, An.…”

“…(2001a, b) proposed that both Cellia and Anopheles are monophyletic. The subsequent studies supported the monophyletic status of Cellia and Anopheles (Sallum et al ., ; Harbach & Kitching, ; Harbach, ; Freitas et al ., ). In the present study, only one specie, An.…”

Evolution of sexually-transferred steroids inAnophelesmosquitoes

“…Phylogenetic analysis of the data set was performed by Bayesian inference (Figure 1B (1,25,26). From the Bayesian phylogenetic analysis and using fossil data, we obtained species divergence estimates, which are roughly conform to recently published phylogenies (25,27,28) (Table S1). Results indicate that the age of the last common ancestor of Anopheles genus is about 84.1 Ma (112.7-55.8, 95% confidence interval) and the most ancestral node within the Cellia subgenus is dated to 69.2 Ma (93.0-45.6, 95% confidence interval) ( Figure 1B, Table S1).…”

Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in Tunisia, with Particular Attention to Proven and Potential Vectors: A Review

“…There are about 3500 species worldwide and 44 genera [1]. The genera Anopheles contains seven subgenera including 460 species, Culex comprises 26 subgenera with 763 species and the genus Aedes including 70 subgenera with 927 species [1,2].…”