DNA barcodes: helping to elucidate the role of mosquito species in Flavivirus transmission in the southern area of Mar Chiquita Lake, central Argentina.

BERRON CLARA; RE VIVIANA; LIJTMAER, DARÍO A; DIEZ, NATALIA G; STEIN MARINA; VISINTIN, A.; TUBARO, PABLO ; ALMIRÓN WALTER R.; CONTIGIANI M. S.

Kumming

Conferencia; Fifth International Barcode of Life Conference; 2013

1) Mosquito barcode library: A total of 168 sequences belonging to 32 species were obtained. In the CO1 distance analysis (NJ tree, Fig. 3) most specimens grouped according to morphological taxonomy. CO1 sequence divergence was, on average, approximately 11 times higher between congeneric species (9.0%) than conspecific individuals (0.8%). Problematic cases are highlighted 2) Mosquito feeding patterns: In general, DNA barcodes were useful to identify the engorged female mosquitoes, except in the case of Cx. bidens - Cx. interfor and Ps. pallescens - Ps. ciliata. A group of sequences (called Cx. sp3) did not match any of the CO1 reference sequences obtained in this work or available on BOLD. Therefore, they could not be identified to species level.A total of 224 blood meals were dentified. Females belonging to Ochlerotatus, Psorophora and Mansonia genera fed exclusively on mammals, mainly on cows, while mosquitoes belonging to Culex genus fed mainly on birds, being the Great Antshrike (Thamnophilidae) and the Eared Dove (Columbidae) the most targetted avian hosts