Systematics of An. (Nyssorhynchus) albitarsis complex in South America using COI (mDNA) of topotypic specimens

The Albitarsis Subgroup (Linthicum, 1988), of the Anopheles subgenus Nyssorhynchus, comprises five formally described species: An. albitarsis Lynch-Arribálzaga, 1878; An. deaneorum Rosa-Freitas, 1989; An. janconnae Wilkerson and Sallum, 2009; An. marajoara Galvão and Damasceno, 1942 and An. oryzalimnetes Wilkerson and Motoki, 2009. In addition another species recognized using DNA sequences is informally designated, An. albitarsis F (Brochero et al., 1997). The Albitarsis Subgroup is of great taxonomic and epidemiological importance in malaria transmission with two known important regional malaria vectors in Brazil, An. marajoara (Conn et al., 2002) and An. janconnae (Povoa et al., 2006). However, their distribution in South America is unclear, morphological keys (Faran and Linthicum, 1981; Linthicum, 1988) are outdated, and other cryptic species have been suspected.

Using Bayesian analysis of the entire mDNA COI gene (1470 bp), with topotypic specimens of all species previously described in this complex, we confirmed the presence of three novel taxa in the Albitarsis Subgroup, as follow: An. albitarsis G (Amazonas, Brazil), An. albitarsis H (Rondonia and Mato Grosso, Brazil) and An. albitarsis I (Colombia), increasing the species in this subgroup to nine. Further studies will be necessary to the formally describe these new taxa and determine their respective roles in malaria transmissions in South America.