DNA barcoding suggests new species for the Mansonia subgenus (Mansonia, Mansoniini, Culicidae, Diptera) in the area surrounding the Jirau hydroelectric dam, Porto Velho municipality, Rondônia state, Brazil

• Published in: Acta tropica 2022-09, Vol.233, p.106574-106574, Article 106574
• Main Authors: Scarpassa, Vera Margarete, Batista, Elizângela Tavares, Ferreira, Vânia da Costa, Santos Neto, Veríssimo Alves dos, Roque, Rosemary Aparecida, Tadei, Wanderli Pedro, Ferreira, Francisco Augusto da Silva, Costa, Fábio Medeiros da
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Brazilian amazon; Cryptic speciation; Hydroelectric dam; Mansonia; Taxonomy
• ISSN: 0001-706X; 1873-6254
• DOI: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2022.106574

•DNA barcoding analyses were conducted on Mansonia species collected from Jirau hydroelectric dam, Rondônia State, Brazil;•The results indicated five Mansonia species in the study area;•The results also pointed to the occurrence of cryptic speciation in the analyzed samples;•COI sequences were useful tools to both estimate phylogenetic relationships and identify morphologically similar species in the subgenus Mansonia. Previous studies have linked the construction of hydroelectric dams with increases in the density of mosquitoes, especially Mansonia. In Brazil, Mansonia mosquitoes are still poorly studied at the taxonomic, biological, ecological and epidemiological levels, and nothing is known about the genetic diversity and the cryptic speciation of the group. The current study analyzed the molecular taxonomy of Mansonia species captured in the area surrounding the Jirau hydroelectric dam, Rondônia state, Brazil. Samples were collected from fifteen locations between 2018 and 2019. Genomic DNA of the specimens was extracted, and the DNA barcode region of the Cytochrome Oxidase, subunit I gene was amplified with PCR and both DNA strands were sequenced. The dataset was analyzed using MEGA, Mr. Bayes and DnaSP software. The results provided COI sequences for 100 specimens collected in the area surrounding from Jirau hydroelectric dam. These belonged to five species of the Mansonia subgenus, identified morphologically as Mansonia humeralis, Mansonia amazonensis, Mansonia titillans, Mansonia dyari and Mansonia indubitans. Findings showed that the COI gene is an effective and accessible DNA barcode that provides a high-resolution tool for delimiting species within the subgenus Mansonia, with the tree construction (Bayesian Inference) well supported and non-overlapping intraspecific and interspecific (K2-P) genetic distance values. These findings also indicate the occurrence of cryptic speciation within M. dyari and near of M. titillans. This is the first study to apply molecular tools to the taxonomy of Mansonia species from Brazil. [Display omitted]