| Abstract: | To evaluate whether environmental heterogeneity contributes to thegenetic heterogeneity in Anopheles triannulatus, larval habitatcharacteristics across the Brazilian states of Roraima and Pará and geneticsequences were examined. A comparison with Anopheles goeldiiwas utilised to determine whether high genetic diversity was unique toAn. triannulatus. Student t test andanalysis of variance found no differences in habitat characteristics between thespecies. Analysis of population structure of An. triannulatusand An. goeldii revealed distinct demographic histories in alargely overlapping geographic range. Cytochrome oxidase Isequence parsimony networks found geographic clustering for both species;however nuclear marker networks depicted An. triannulatus witha more complex history of fragmentation, secondary contact and recentdivergence. Evidence of Pleistocene expansions suggests both species are morelikely to be genetically structured by geographic and ecological barriers thandemography. We hypothesise that niche partitioning is a driving force fordiversity, particularly in An. triannulatus. |
