Medical and Veterinary Entomology (2002) 16, 214-217

M. Fettene, L.L. Koekemoer, R.H. Hunt and M. Coetzee (2002)
PCR assay for identification of Anopheles quadriannulatus species B from Ethiopia and other sibling species of the Anopheles gambiae complex
Medical and Veterinary Entomology 16 (2), 214-217
Abstract: Sibling species A and B of Anopheles quadriannulatus (Theobald) are recognized as allopatric members of the Anopheles gambiae Giles complex of Afrotropical mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae). Species A represents An. quadriannulatus sensu stricto, widespread in southern Africa, whereas An. quadriannulatus species B occurs in Ethiopia. Because of difficulty of identification, distribution of An. quadriannulatus sensu lato remains poorly known. Cytotaxonomy and the standard DNA polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay do not distinguish between species A and B of An. quadriannulatus. By optimizing the standard PCR assay (Scott et al., 1993) for identification of members of the An. gambiae complex, we identified two discriminant fragments of 153 bp and 900 bp from DNA of An. quadriannulatus species B, whereas only the 153 bp fragment was amplified for species A from South Africa. This modified PCR assay can therefore be used to distinguish between species A and B of An. quadriannulatus s.l. as well as other members of the An. gambiae complex.
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Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Messay Fettene, Lizette L. Koekemoer, Maureen Coetzee

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
identification/taxonomy

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Anopheles amharicus		Ethiopia
	Anopheles quadriannulatus		South Africa