Separation of Anopheles merus from freshwater Anopheles gambiae by salinity tolerance test and morphological characters.

The separation methods for Anopheles merus from freshwater A. gambiae s.l. involving the use of salinity tolerance test, sensilla coeloconica, palpal ratio and palpal bands were evaluated for a period of one year on a total of about 340 mosquitoes. The salinity tolerance test method was found to be quite simple and reliable but unsuitable in disease transmission studies due to an interval of 2-3 days between the collection and dissection periods and also due to the fact that only a fraction of the mosquito sample is generally identified by this method. Although significantly higher proportions of sensilla coeloconica and palpal ratio were observed in A. merus as compared to freshwater A. gambiae s.l. these characters were found quite unreliable due to their overlapping between two mosquito groups. Sensilla coeloconica and palpal ratio used separately could separate respective percentages of 11.4 and 11.8 A. merus from freshwater A. gambiae s.l., while in combination they separated up to 40.9%. Percentages 4-banded palp mosquitoes accounted for about 32% in A. merus and 19% in freshwater A. gambiae s.l. All these characters also displayed some seasonal variations in the two mosquito groups.