Sandflies of thePhlebotomus perniciosuscomplex: mitochondrial introgression and a new sibling species ofP. longicuspisin the Moroccan Rif

• DOI: 10.1111/j.0269-283x.2004.0471.x
• Publication Date: 2004-03-03T17:13:35Z
• Authors: B. Pesson; J. S. Ready; I. Benabdennbi; J. Martín‐Sánchez; S. Esseghir; M. Cadi‐Soussi; F. Morillas‐Marquez; P. D. Ready
• Keywords: Male; MESH: Sequence Analysis, DNA; MESH: Cytochromes b/chemistry; Polymerase Chain Reaction; 0302 clinical medicine; sibling species; Phlebotomus perniciosus complex; MESH: Glucose-6-Phosphate Isomerase/genetics; Hexokinase; morphology; MESH: Animals; MESH: Phylogeny; Phylogeny; Cytochromes b; MESH: Genitalia, Male/ultrastructure; MESH: Phlebotomus/genetics*; Isoenzymes; Morocco; [SDV.MP]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Microbiology and Parasitology; MESH: DNA, Mitochondrial/chemistry; MESH: Isoelectric Focusing; MESH: Isoenzymes; Female; isoenzymes mitochondrial introgression; MESH: Phlebotomus/anatomy & histology; MESH: DNA, Mitochondrial/genetics*; MESH: Glucose-6-Phosphate Isomerase/metabolism; Genitalia, Male; DNA, Mitochondrial; Phlebotomus longicuspis; MESH: Phlebotomus/enzymology*; 03 medical and health sciences; MESH: Phosphoglucomutase/genetics; Animals; MESH: Cytochromes b/genetics; Alleles; MESH: Hexokinase/metabolism; [SDV.BA.MVSA]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Animal biology/Veterinary medicine and animal Health; MESH: Alleles; Glucose-6-Phosphate Isomerase; MESH: Polymerase Chain Reaction; Sequence Analysis, DNA; MESH: Hexokinase/genetics; MESH: Male; MESH: Phosphoglucomutase/metabolism; Phosphoglucomutase; MESH: Morocco; Phlebotomus; Isoelectric Focusing; MESH: Female

Abstract. The bloodsucking adult females ofPhlebotomus perniciosusNewstead andP. longicuspisNitzulescu (Diptera: Psychodidae) are important vectors of the protozoanLeishmania infantumNicolle (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae) in western Mediterranean countries. The species status of the two phlebotomine sandflies was assessed, along with the epidemiological implications. Individual sandflies from three Moroccan Rif populations were characterized morphologically, isoenzymatically (by the isoelectrofocusing of alleles at the polymorphic enzyme loci of HK, GPI and PGM), and by comparative DNA sequence analysis of a fragment of mitochondrialCytochrome b(mtDNA). By reference to the character profiles of specimens from other locations, including southern Spain and the type‐locality countries, the Moroccan flies were placed in three lineages: first, the lineage ofP. perniciosus, which contained two mtDNA sublineages, one (pnt) widely distributed and associated with the morphology of the male types from Malta, and the other (pna) associated with aP. longicuspis‐like male morphology; second, the lineage ofP. longicuspis sensu stricto, including typical forms from Tunisia; and third, a new sibling species ofP. longicuspis. The mtDNA sublineage (pnt) of typicalP. perniciosuswas also found in someP. longicuspisfrom Morocco, indicating interspecific hybridization. The typical race ofP. perniciosusoccurs in Italy as well as in Malta, Tunisia and Morocco. It is replaced in southern Spain by the Iberian race (with the pni mtDNA sublineage). The discovery of interspecific gene introgression and a new sibling species mean that previous records of the two morphospecies do not necessarily reflect their true vectorial roles or geographical and ecological distributions.