Differentiation of some populations of Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) in three areas of Lagos State, Nigeria, using wing morphometry

Abstract

AbstractDiversity amongst the different populations is one of the problems in the control of medically important mosquitoes. Wing morphometry was used to identify within-species variation amongst some populations ofAedes aegyptiin three areas of Lagos State, Nigeria. Ten landmarks on the right wing of adult femaleAe. aegyptimosquitoes were digitized using TPSdig software. Relative distances of the veins and interpoints were calculated as well as the Euclidean distances based on these relative distances. In three (50%) of the interpoints, the relative distances were significant (P<0.05) to both the Brown–Forsythe F ratio and Welch ANOVA. The highest Euclidean distance of 7.738 was between Ebute Metta 2 and Badagry; the lowest of 4.426 was between Ikorodu and Ebute Metta 2. The distance between Ebute Metta 1 and Ebute Metta 2 was 5.867, which is more than the distance between Ebute Metta 2 and Ikorodu. Three groups ofAe. aegyptiwere identified, and the differences in lengths and interpoints observed on the wing veins suggest a possible morphological divergence amongst populations.