VARIATION IN THE CUTICULAR HYDROCARBONS OF LARVAE OF ANOPHELES-GAMBIAE AND VARIATION IN THE CUTICULAR HYDROCARBONS OF LARVAE OF ANOPHELES-GAMBIAE AND A-ARABIENSIS

Gas Liquid Chromatography was used to obtain profiles of cuticular hydrocarbons from single larvae of two species belonging to the Anopheles gambiae complex: A. gambiae and A. arabiensis. By applying discriminant analysis of hydrocarbons it was possible to separate the two populations with a 95% success rate. The same analysis was used to achieve an average of 94% segregation among their strains. This analysis does not require preservation of specimen by liquid nitrogen or refrigeration and further identification by other procedures can be carried out on the specimens after cuticular hydrocarbon analysis. More importantly the technique permits analysis of single rather than pooled specimens used by earlier investigators.