The mosquitoes of sardinia: species records 35 years after the malaria eradication campaign

Thirty-five years ago malaria was eradicated from Sardinia by massive application of DDT directed against the mosquito vector species, Anopheles labranchiae, but the long-term effects on the mosquito fauna have not been investigated previously. 2. A 5-year mosquito survey (1980-85) involved in the inspection of 348 sites (plus 173 reinspections) and the processing of nearly 60,000 specimens. 3. Twenty-four species in six genera were identified from larval and adult collections. Species of the genera Culex (41%) and Aedes (22%) were more commonly encountered than Culiseta (18%) and Anopheles (17%) species. Orthopodomyia (1.6%) and Coquillettidia (0.6%) were far less frequent. 4. The species composition was similar to that described for the years of the eradication campaign, except for the genus Anopheles. Of the eight Anopheles species previously recorded, only four species were identified in collections of 1159 larvae from eighty-five positive sites. 5. Anopheles labranchiae was the most frequently collected species of its genus (49%), but was represented in only 12% of the total collections. Comparison with previous records indicated a progressive increase in sites positive for An.labranchiae over the past 35 years. 6. Anopheles hispaniola was not found, although it had apparently replaced An.labranchiae soon after the eradication campaign. An. labranchiae was common in the sites where the replacement phenomenon has been observed

Cytogenetic and isozyme profile of Sabethes cyaneus: a mosquito of the neo-tropical canopy

Sabethes cyaneus, a newly colonized culicine mosquito from the Panamanian forest canopy, has a distribution range from Honduras to Argentina. Cytogenetic studies, the first on any Sabethes species, revealed a karyotype of three pairs of homomorphic chromosomes (2n = 6). Well-developed polytene chromosomes were discovered in the larval salivary glands and a photomap standard was constructed. Clear banding patterns and consistent landmarks distinguished each of the six arms. Substantial asynapsis occurred in the three polytene chromosomes, although the banding pattern of the homologous regions appeared homosequential. A nucleolar organizer was localized in region 5A of the shortest chromosome by the recurrent association of this region with the nucleolus. The large band in region 5A was found heterozygous for width and a deletion. Additional, less conspicuous, polymorphisms for band width and staining intensity were distributed throughout the genome. Biochemical studies of 31 enzyme loci revealed 10 loci to be polymorphic, with an average heterozygosity of 13 percent. Differential expression in developmental stages occurred for 11 loci involving six enzyme

Polytene chromosomes of Orthopodomyia pulcripalpis (Diptera: Culicidae)

Orthopodomyia pulcripalpis is the only European representative of the tribe Orthopodomyiini (Diptera: Culicidae). Its chromosomal complement consists of three pairs of metaphase chromosomes, as it is typical of culicine mosquitoes. O. pulcripalpis shows, differently from other culicine species, polytene chromosomes of excellent cytological quality, easily obtainable from the larval salivary glands. A photomap of the polytene chromosomes of the species is described in the present paper together with some details on chromosomal polymorphism