Description and morphometric analysis of the eggs of Anopheles (Anopheles) vestitipennis (Diptera: Culcidae) from southern Mexico

Light and scanning electron microscopy were used to compare the eggs of Anopheles vestitipennis Dyar & Knab females collected from human and animal baits in 9 villages of southern Mexico. An. vestitipennis eggs are boat-shaped, with lateral floats extending the length of the egg. Both the deck and dorsal surface are covered with hexagonal and pentagonal chorionic cells that contain round tubercles in the cell field. Crowns that enclose 3-5 lobed tubercles are present at both egg poles. By light microscopy, the mean length/width ratio of eggs of females caught at human bait were statistically different from those of females caught in horse-baited animal traps. In a regression tree model that included 19 egg attributes, the same egg groups could be separated by their posterior crown length/width ratio and mean anterior cell deck form factor (an index of their roundness). These findings support of the possible existence of 2 An. vestitipennis subpopulations with different host preferences in southern Mexico.