Anopheles

Biodiversity of Anopheles View in CoL in Meghalaya State

In the present study, we recorded several Anopheles species of epidemiological and biogeographical importance. These include An. minimus Theobald, 1901a , An. fluviatilis James, 1902 , An. aconitus Dönitz, 1902 and An. jeyporiensis James, 1902 of the Funestus Group; An. baimaii Sallum & Peyton, 2005 (in Sallum et al. 2005) of the Dirus Complex; and An. annularis van der Wulp, 1884 and An. philippinensis Ludlow, 1902 of the Annularis Group. These groups are widely distributed across Southeast Asia. Members of the Maculatus Group are also well represented in India, particularly in the northeastern region. Of the nine known species in the group ( Somboon et al. 2011), six have been reported from northeastern India ( Singh et al. 2012). In Meghalaya State, two species, namely An. maculatus Theobald, 1901a and An. pseudowillmori ( Theobald, 1910b) were previously documented.

In the current survey, four species in the Maculatus Group were collected: An. maculatus , An. pseudowillmori , An. dravidicus Christophers, 1924 and An. sawadwongporni Rattanarithikul & Green, 1987 . While An. dravidicus is not new to the state, its detection reaffirms its presence and supports Christophers (1933) taxonomic validation after initially describing it in 1924. The dominance of An. maculatus aligns with Singh et al. (2012). Additionally, a distinct species from the Baileyi Complex was collected, differing from An. baileyi in adult morphology and preliminary molecular data. Further studies are underway to confirm its identity and taxonomic status.