Genetic and Phenetic Approaches to Anopheles Systematics

The Anopheles genus is probably one of the best studied genera among insects of medical importance. Of more than 500 species currently listed in the world about sixty species are vectors of malaria agents and about thirty species are responsible for most of the transmission [1-3]. The important epidemiological role of anopheline species has motivated many studies of taxonomy and systematics with traditional tools. With the advent of molecular tools, the development of informatics databases and new mathematical concepts on shape, characteriz‐ ing insects has become more and more accurate. Molecular tools based on the nucleotide polymorphism of DNA have allowed the identification of cryptic diversity, confirming and refining previous findings suggesting the existence of many species groups or complexes of sibling species. The development of international genetic sequence database collabora‐ tionshttp://www.insdc.org, http://www.barcodinglife.com/ allowed the use of reference sequences for species identification. Although not well developed, the same need for infor‐ matic databases arose for traditional taxonomy.