Descriptions of members of the Simulium damnosum complex (Diptera: Simuliidae) from southern Africa, Ethiopia and Tanzania

Abstract

This paper presents cytotaxonomic details of five populations of the Simulium damnosum complex from South Africa, Swaziland and Ethiopia. The 'Nkusi SW' and 'Pienaars' forms are newly designated members of the complex from South Africa, but the taxonomic rank of an isolate indistinguishable chromosomally from the 'Nkusi' cytoform remains unclear. From Ethiopia two cytoforms were identified, one of which shares two diagnostic chromosome inversions with the cytoform 'Kisiwani' from Tanzania. The second form belongs to S. kaffaense, and is the suspected local vector of Onchocerca volvulus. In addition, a re-analysis of the cytoform 'Kibwezi' from north–eastern Tanzania provided further insights into its population subdivision, and its genetic and morphological characteristics. Cytotaxonomic similarities between 'Kibwezi', S. mengense and S. pandanophilum, along with their biogeography, indicate a relict status of each of these taxa.