SEQUENCE-ANALYSIS OF THE RIBOSOMAL DNA INTERNAL TRANSCRIBED SPACER-2 FROM POPULATIONS OF ANOPHELES NUNEZTOVARI (DIPTERA, CULICIDAE)

Sequence variation of the ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) was examined for populations of the malaria vector Anopheles nuneztovari collected in Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Suriname, and Brazil. Mosquitoes from Colombia and Venezuela had identical ITS2 sequences and were distinguished from sequences in other populations by three insertion/deletion events (indels) and by one transversion. The length of the ITS2 was 363-369 bp, and it had a G+C content of 55.3%-55.7%. Variation in the length of the ITS2 between and within populations was due to indels in simple repeats. ITS2 consensus sequences were similar or identical for samples from the following three groups: (1) Colombia, Bolivia, and Venezuela; (2) Suriname and northern Brazil; and (3) eastern and central Brazil. The presence of two different consensus sequences from a single location near Manaus, Brazil, suggests that populations from eastern Brazil and those from Suriname converge in this region of the Amazon Basin. These data show that putative cryptic species of An. nuneztovari are distinguished by very minor differences in DNA sequence of the ITS2 region.