TAXONOMIC DIFFERENTIATION OF ANOPHELES SACHAROVI AND AN. MACULIPENNIS S.L. (DIPTERA: CULICIDAE) LARVAE BY SETA 2 (ANTEPALMATE HAIR)

Abstract

Malaria has reemerged in northern borderline of Iran after the collapse of former Soviet Union. There have been several reports of malaria epidemics in Azerbaijan and Ardebil provinces of Iran. The Anopheles maculipennis complex is assumed to play an important role in malaria transmission in these regions. For the first time in Iran, a diagnostic character in 4th instar larvae, i.e. seta 2 (antepalmate hair) in the tergum of 4th and 5th segments of abdomen was used to differentiate An. sacharovi from An. maculipennis s.l. A total of 149 larval samples from 17 different locations of Iran were examined by light microscope. It was found that the mean number of seta 2 branches in An. sacharovi was 36.84 ± 1.94 whereas it was 16.52 ± 5.05 for An. maculipennis s.l. It seems that this character can be added to the national identification key of larval stage of Iranian anopheline mosquitoes.