A new phylogenetic analysis of the Nyssorhynchus
subgenus (Danoff-Burg and Conn, unpub. data) using six data
sets {morphological (all life stages); scanning electron
micrographs of eggs; nuclear ITS2 sequences; mitochondrial COII,
ND2 and ND6 sequences} revealed different topologies when each
data set was analyzed separately but no heterogeneity between the
data sets using the arn test. Consequently, the most accurate
estimate of the phylogeny was obtained when all the data were
combined. This new phylogeny supports a monophyletic
Nyssorhynchus subgenus but both previously recognized
sections in the subgenus (Albimanus and Argyritarsis) were
demonstrated to be paraphyletic relative to each other and four
of the seven clades included species previously placed in both
sections. One of these clades includes both Anopheles
darlingi and An. albimanus, suggesting that the ability
to vector malaria effectively may have originated once in this
subgenus.
Both a conserved (315 bp) and a variable (425 bp) region of
the mitochondrial COI gene from 15 populations of An.
darlingi from Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, French Guiana, Peru and
Venezuela were used to examine the evolutionary history of this
species and to test several analytical assumptions. Results
demonstrated (1) parsimony analysis is equally informative
compared to distance analysis using NJ; (2) clades or clusters
are more strongly supported when these two regions are combined
compared to either region separately; (3) evidence (in the form
of remnants of older haplotype lineages) for two colonization
events; and (4) significant genetic divergence within the
population from Peixoto de Azevedo (State of Mato Grosso,
Brazil). The oldest lineage includes populations from Peixoto,
Boa Vista (State of Roraima) and Dourado (State of São
Paulo).
