Influence of seasonality on wing morphological variability in populations of Mansonia amazonensis (Theobald) (Diptera: Culicidae)

Abstract

Mansonia amazonensis (Theobald, 1901) is one of 15 species of the subgenus Mansonia Blanchard, 1901. It is essentially a Neotropical species, recorded in Bolivia, Peru and Brazil. In the highly seasonal Amazon region, Mansonia species find ideal environmental conditions for reproduction, development and establishment. Considering that climate significantly influences the size and behavior of mosquitoes, and insects in general, we analyzed the influence of seasonality on wing morphological variability in populations of Ma. amazonensis. Captures were carried out near the banks of the Madeira River in Rondônia State, Brazil during the dry, rainy and transition periods between seasons during 2018 and 2019. Morphometric characters of 181 wings were analyzed using morphological methods. The results show that wing size of Ma. amazonensis increases following a relatively gradual trend, from smaller wings during the dry period to larger ones in the rainy season. This study provides the first evidence, detected using geometric morphometry, of seasonally associated phenotypic variability in the wing conformation of Ma. amazonensis.