Anopheles bwambae new species a malaria vector in the semliki valley uganda and its relationships with other sibling species of the anopheles gambiae complex diptera culicidae
White, G.B.
Systematic Entomology 10(4): 501-522
1985
ISSN/ISBN: 0307-6970 Accession: 004753069
The name Anopheles bwambae is proposed for the taxon previously called species D of the A. gambiae complex. This sibling species is known only from the vicinity of Buranga hot springs in Bwamba County, Toro District, Uganda, where it breeds in brackish water from geothermal springs together with other halophilic mosquitoes (A. albocephalus, A. natronius, Culex tenagius). A. bwambae adults inhabit the Semliki Forest, where the natural hosts are unknown, but they also enter houses in nearby villages and bite human beings avidly. Plasmodium sporozoites and developing larvae of Wuchereria bancrofti were found in A. bwambae females, so it is assumed that this species of vector contributes locally to transmission of human malaria and filariasis (together with A. funestus, A. gambiae and A. arabiensis). The specific diagnosis of A. bwambae depends upon (i) the presence of fixed inversion 3La and polymorphic inversions 2R1 and 3Rb of the karyotype, as interpreted from ovarian polytene chromosomes, (ii) a fast fixed allozyme of super-oxide dismutase (Sod-105), (iii) female palpi with broader pale apical band and narrower dark sub-apical band than for other sibling species. Cytotaxonomically A. bwambae has the same X-chromosome banding pattern as A. quadriannulatus and A. melas; the latter also has autosomal inversion 3La and therefore appears to be the sister-species of A. bwambae. An identification key is given to the six named sibling species of the A. gambiae complex.