IDENTIFICATION OF DRY-PINNED MUSEUM SPECIMENS OF THE SIBLING SPECIES ANOPHELES-GAMBIAE AND ANOPHELES-ARABIENSIS (DIPTERA, CULICIDAE) USING NONRADIOACTIVELY LABELED DNA PROBES

Non-radioactively labelled DNA probes were tested for their ability to identify dried museum specimens of Anopheles gambiae and its sibling species An.arabiensis. The specimens were the progeny of wild-caught f emales collected in 1991 from villages in western Kenya. Three years l ater, specimens whose identity was known to the second author were pro vided 'blind' to the first author for identification with oligonucleot ide probes (SH 5 and SH 4 derived from pAngss and pAngsl, respectively ) using a simplified squash-blotting protocol for non-radioactive prob es. All specimens were successfully identified with whole-body squashe s, and the results agreed with previous identifications of parents or siblings based on rDNA-polymerase chain reaction. The amounts of DNA r eleased by squash-blotting were just sufficient for identification by those experienced in the technique, but not for squashes of heads or t horaces alone. An aim of the study was to determine whether squash-blo t methods of identification might be useful for establishing the genet ic identity of name-bearing type specimens of sibling species held in museum collections.