Molecular Characterization of Mosquito Diversity in the Balearic Islands

Abstract

Several outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases have taken place in Europe in recent years. In Spain, both active and passive surveillance have demonstrated that dengue and West Nile viruses are currently circulating, and seven autochthonous dengue cases have been reported in the last 2 yr. The effectiveness of vector control programs largely depends on the accuracy of the taxonomic identification of the species. However, in Spain, identification almost completely relies on the use of morphological keys to characterize the mosquito fauna. This study investigates the congruence between molecular and morphological species boundaries in 13 Spanish mosquito taxa. The Cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene region was sequenced from 60 adult specimens collected in Mallorca, plus several representatives from other Spanish regions for comparative purposes. Phylogenetic relationships were established using Bayesian and maximum-likelihood approaches. Using three species delimitation algorithms (ABGD, mPTP, and GMYC), we found strong evidence for cryptic speciation within Anopheles algeriensis Theobald, a widespread mosquito in the Mediterranean basin. We also delimited the Mallorcan rock pool mosquito Aedes mariae (Sergent & Sergent), from mainland European populations. Finally, we found difficulties in the use of wing characters in species keys to distinguish Culiseta annulata (Schrk) from Culiseta subochrea (Edwards). Given that these species are vectors of pathogens of medical relevance and have veterinary importance, their accurate taxonomic identification is essential in European vector surveillance programs.

A DNA barcode reference library of Portuguese mosquitoes

“…or 'species discovery' (Collins & Cruickshank, 2013). Several studies using DNA barcoding were able to reveal cryptic species (Batovska et al, 2016;Chan-Chable et al, 2019;Delgado-Serra et al, 2020;Wang et al, 2012), although some report the inability of barcoding to separate closely related species, namely in Culex and Anopheles genus (Cywinska et al, 2006;Kumar et al, 2007;Laurito et al, 2013;Wang et al, 2012). The species discrimination power of DNA barcoding in mosquitoes, reflected by congruence with the morphological identifications, was usually high in previous studies, ranging from 82% to 98% (Ashfaq et al, 2014;Chan et al, 2014;Rozo-Lopez & Mengual, 2015;Versteirt et al, 2015;Wang et al, 2012).…”

Mosquito community composition in two major stopover aquatic ecosystems used by migratory birds in northern Spain

“…Damaged or morphologically indistinguishable mosquito specimens ( n = 104; 56.7% in Urdaibai and 43.3% in Salburua) were identified via molecular methods using the primers described by Delgado‐Serra et al (2021) and a PCR targeting the COI gene (Hernández‐Triana et al, 2017). After DNA extraction from mosquito thorax using a commercial kit (QIAamp DNA Mini kit, Qiagen, Hilden, Germany), PCR amplicons were purified using ExoSAP‐IT (Applied Biosystems, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Vilnius, Lithuania) and subjected to Sanger sequencing (Eurofins Genomics, Germany).…”

A time-series meta-transcriptomic analysis reveals the seasonal, host, and gender structure of mosquito viromes

“…2020 ). Species identifications were initially carried out based on morphological characteristics by experienced field biologists and further confirmed by analyzing the cytochrome C oxidase subunit I (COI) gene ( Delgado-Serra et al. 2021 ) from the sequencing results.…”