Dentification of four vectors of human Plasmodium spp. by multiplex PCR: Anopheles rangeli, An. strodei, An. triannulatus, and An. trinkae (Diptera: Culicidae: Nyssorhynchus)

One of the major obstacles for studies of the biology, ecology, and behavior of Neotropical vectors of human Plasmodium has been the lack of reliable and efficient means of identifying many species. Although the subgenus Nyssorhynchus includes most species responsible for human transmission in South America, there are no polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based techniques for identifying members of this taxon. We describe the first multiplex PCR for identifying four species in the subgenus Nyssorhynchus that are vectors of human Plasmodium spp. Four species specific primers, together with a universal primer that anneals to the 5.8S rDNA region, produce amplicons of the internal transcribed spacer two with base pair sizes of 131,308,371, and 441 for An. triannulatus, An. trinkae, An. strodei, and An. rangeli, respectively.