Anopheles pseudopunctipennis, Theobald, 1901

Harbach, Ralph E. & Wilkerson, Richard C., 2023, The insupportable validity of mosquito subspecies (Diptera: Culicidae) and their exclusion from culicid classification, Zootaxa 5303 (1), pp. 1-184 : 59

Anopheles pseudopunctipennis sensu stricto

The nominotypical species of the Pseudopunctipennis Complex was redescribed, illustrated (except for the egg) and a neotype designated using specimens from the type locality, Granada ( Rueda et al. 2004). There are two publications of note that distinguish An. pseudopunctipennis sensu stricto from other members of the complex. Manguin et al. (1995), in an isoenzyme study, sampled across the entire range of An. pseudopunctipennis sensu lato, identified three groups/clusters: 1) Granada, 2) USA, Mexico and Guatemala, and 3) Argentina to Belize. They judged that the three groups represented a single species. We agree that their method did not provide the resolution needed to separate all of the species in this complex but we think their results clearly separate the populations at the type locality as a distinct species. In addition, crossing experiments between specimens from Mexico, the USA and Granada ( Coetzee et al. 1999) produced non-viable offspring and extensive asynapsis of polytene chromosomes. Coetzee et al. treated their results as evidence of a species complex. We are confident that the results of these two studies, along with adequate distances for genetic isolation, are sufficient to distinguish An. pseudopunctipennis sensu stricto from all other taxa discussed below. The distribution of An. pseudopunctipennis sensu stricto is not clear. It was reported by van der Kuyp (1953) from Curaçao, Margarita [now Venezuelan territory] and Aruba. Shannon et al. (1927) wrote that Puerto España, Trinidad was probably the eastern-most limit of this species. There are extensive records for An. pseudopunctipennis in Venezuela ( Gabaldon & Cova-Garcia 1946; Sutil O. 1980). We assume these are conspecific with the Granada population, but this has not been verified. The occurrence of An. pseudopunctipennis sensu stricto in adjoining Colombia should also be considered. Taking into account the evidence/inferences of the validity and distributions of other related species in the complex summarized below, we think the distribution of An. pseudopunctipennis sensu stricto should be changed from the currently listed countries that represent all the species in the complex, found in many publications, to that shown above.