Abstract
Adult dry weights of laboratory-reared Anopheles darlingi were highly correlated with wing lengths, which were used to estimate size variation in natural populations of this species. Significant differences in mean wing lengths of females trapped at baits were detected among collections in the same week at one site, but not between three sites in Brazil and Boliva. Relatively higher variability of wing lengths, compared to collections of other Anopheles (Nyssorhynchus), and platykurtic size distributions in large, single-night collections suggested that An. darlingi females caught at baits emerged from heterogenous larval habitats. No relationship was detected between parous state and the body size of wild-caught females. Adult males and females of laboratory-reared An. darlingi did not differ in body size. This absence of sexual size dimorphism is rare among mosquitoes and has not been noted previously in the genus Anopheles.
Anopheles darlingi; mosquito; adult size; wing lengths; population characteristics; sexual dimorphism
Life history correlates of adult size in the malaria vector Anopheles darlingi
L. P. Lounibos1
N. Nishimura1
J. Conn2
R. Lourenço-de-Oliveira3
University of Florida, Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, Vero Beach, USA
University of Vermont, Marsh Life Sciences Building, Department of Biology, Burlington, USA
Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Departamento de Entomologia, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
Adult dry weights of laboratory-reared Anopheles darlingi were highly correlated with wing lengths, which were used to estimate size variation in natural populations of this species. Significant differences in mean wing lengths of females trapped at baits were detected among collections in the same week at one site, but not between three sites in Brazil and Boliva. Relatively higher variability of wing lengths, compared to collections of other Anopheles (Nyssorhynchus), and platykurtic size distributions in large, single-night collections suggested that An. darlingi females caught at baits emerged from heterogenous larval habitats. No relationship was detected between parous state and the body size of wild-caught females. Adult males and females of laboratory-reared An. darlingi did not differ in body size. This absence of sexual size dimorphism is rare among mosquitoes and has not been noted previously in the genus Anopheles.
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Publication Dates
-
Publication in this collection
01 June 2009 -
Date of issue
Dec 1995
