Genetic analysis of rock hole and domestic Aedes aegypti on the Caribbean island of Anguilla

Abstract

Genetic variation was characterized at 11 enzyme coding loci in Aedes aegypti collected from 3 rock hole and 4 domestic sites on the island of Anguilla, West Indies. The pattern of gene frequency variation suggests that these mosquito samples do not constitute a single panmictic population, but there are no large consistent differences between rock hole and domestic forms to parallel the East African sylvan-domestic dichotomy. With the exception of one of the domestic populations, two loci did however show some gene frequency differences consistent with genetic differentiation between the 2 habitat types. We conclude that whereas there may be some degree of differentiation between the 2 habitat types, local eradication attempts and sporadic gene flow cause temporal and spatial volatility that is sufficient to swamp these differences.