Preliminary biological study on two taxa of the Anopheles balabacensis complex in Burma.

Abstract

An attraction to biologically different characters, breeding site and behavioural features between two Burmese taxa, malaria vector members of the Anopheles (An.) balabacensis complex obliged us to evaluate their genetic divergence by morphological, genetic, and cytogenetic investigations. One of the two taxa was one from Kwang-ka-thang, Mudon Township, Mon State, and the other from Ye-sit-kan, Taikkyi Township. Although these two taxa were morphologically identified as An. dirus, they had different characters in fringe spot on wings at 5.1, 5.2 and 5.2 to 6 vein (after Christophers 1933, and Reid 1968) from An. dirus. In hybridization tests between the two, the F1 hybrids had low fertility in males and was revealed the existence of an inversion in 3R and some asynaptic segments. A distinct difference in the electrophoretic banding pattern of alphaesterase was found between the two. These results indicated that not a small amount of divergence occurred between the two taxa.