Distribution pattern and molecular identification of Anopheles maculipennis complex in eight river basins of Anatolia, Turkey

The present study was set up to identify the members of the Anopheles maculipennis complex, and to determine the distribution pattern of existing species in eight river basins of Anatolia using the second internal transcribed spacer of ribosomal DNA (rDNA-ITS2) sequences from 107 specimens. Resulting sequences of this complex from eight river basins revealed the presence of three species belonging to the An. maculipennis complex, namely An. sacharovi, An. maculipennis and An. melanoon. Anopheles melanoon was the rarest species, An. maculipennis the most abundant and An. sacharovi the most widespread. Although all specimens of the same species shared the same ITS2 haplotype, the size of the ITS2 sequences varied between species. Inclusive of primers (43 bp), the ITS2 fragments were 284, 291 and 303 nucleotides in An. maculipennis, An. melanoon and An. sacharovi, respectively. An. maculipennis and An. melanoon were shown to be most similar with a 3.4% sequence divergence value. The sequence of An. sacharovi differed the most from the other two species, showing 14.8% and 15.2% divergence from An. melanoon and An. maculipennis, respectively.