Determination of the distribution pattern and genetic structure of Ochlerotatus Zammitii (Diptera: Culicidae) in Mediterranean and Aegean Coast of Turkey

The Mariae group, which consists of three species, namely Ochlerotatus mariae, Ochlerotatus phoeniciae and Ochlerotatus zammitii, has a limited distribution worldwide. All of the three species are found in the rocky habitats on the coastal areas of Mediterranean countries. Ochlerotatus phoeniciae and Oc. zammitii species of the Mariae group are found in Turkey. The aim of this study is to determine the distribution pattern and genetic structure of the Oc. zammitii species in the Mediterranean and Aegean regions. For this purpose, the larval and adult samples of Oc. zammitii were collected in 20 different rocky locations in the coastal regions of Antalya, Muğla, Aydın, İzmir, Balıkesir and Çanakkale provinces. DNA isolation was performed primarily from the obtained samples. After DNA isolation, the mtDNA ND4 gene region of the samples, which were collected from each localities, was amplified by using suitable primers with Polymerase Chain Reaction. As a result of the analyses that were made with the sequences of ND4 gene regions, which were obtained from Oc. zammitii samples, 22 haploptypes of the ND4 gene were detected in the distribution region of the species. AMOVA was applied to sampling localities, separated into seven different groups depending on the geographical distance and Gammast values. The variation between the groups was 67.25%, the variation between the locations was 2.93%, while the variation within the locations was 29.82%. Furthermore, the gene flow between the populations was calculated and it was concluded that the gene flow between the nearby locations was found to be high. Meanwhile, the gene flow between the groups was very low in the classifications based on the genetic distance tree.