Enzyme Variation in Some Mosquito Species Related to Aedes (Ochlerotatus) Stimulans (Diptera: Culicidae)1

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Isozyme patterns were studied by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in 7 North American mosquito populations comprising 4 species of the Aedes stimulans group of the subgenus Ochlerotatus. Seventeen enzyme loci were examined. All 4 species could be separated on the basis of differences in allelic frequencies for 5 loci [fumarate hydratase, hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase, isocitrate dehydrogenase (2 forms), and octanol dehydrogenase]. Although no single locus was diagnostic for all 4 species (i.e., no overlap in allele frequency with other species), the use of 2 loci in combination permitted the correct identification of nearly all individuals of even the 2 most closely related species. Cluster analysis of gene frequencies was consistent with affinities previously described by conventional morphological characters. On the basis of enzyme phenotypes, Ae. euedes appeared more closely related to Ae. fitchii than to Ae. excrucians, a species with which Ae. euedes has been synonymized in the past.