Scanning electron microscopy of the cibarial armature of species in the Anopheles dirus complex (Diptera: Culicidae)

• Main Authors: Pradya Somboon, Kritiya Yamniam, Catherine Walton
• Format: Journal
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: Medicine
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=70349829694&origin=inward; http://cmuir.cmu.ac.th/jspui/handle/6653943832/59805
• Institution: Chiang Mai University

The structure of the cibarial armature of mosquitoes has been found to be useful for taxonomic identification. We used a scanning electron micrograph to examine the cibarial armature of 4 of 5 species in the Anopheles dirus complex existing in Thailand: Anopheles dirus Peyton & Harrison, and An. cracens Sallum & Peyton, An. scanloni Sallum & Peyton, and An. baimaii Sallum & Peyton. In all species examined, there was only 1 row of large teeth or cones (modes = 12) characteristic of the Neomyzomyia series. The cones usually have anterior spines and a fimbriated or deeply cleft tip. No significant differences were observed among the 4 species examined, thus the cibarial armature has little value for taxonomic differentiation among these species. However, they appear different from closely related species in the Leucosphyrus complex reported previously.