Genetic divergence in mitochondrial DNA of Anopheles nuneztovari (Diptera : Culicidae) from brazil and Colombia

In the present study, we have examined the variability in Anopheles nunezto vari mitochondrial DNA of three populations from the Brazilian Amazon and o ne from western Colombia (Sitronela), using four restriction endonucleases (BclI, ClaI, HindIII, SstI). The haplotype diversity (h) was slightly eleva ted in all populations (0.5000 to 0.6765), whereas the nucleotide diversity (pi) was lower in the Sitronela population (0.0029) and higher in populati ons from the Brazilian Amazon (0.0056 to 0.0098). The degree of sequence di vergence (delta) estimated within the Brazilian Amazon and that in Sitronel a (0.0329 to 0.0371) suggests that these geographic populations of A. nunez tovari may eventually constitute separate species. The low sequence diverge nce values among the three Brazilian Amazon populations (0.0012 to 0.0031) indicate that these populations are genetically similar. These results are consistent with those recently reported for allozymes of these same populat ions.