Authors : Tanawat Chaiphongpachara and Sedthapong Laojun
Abstract: In this study, our objective was comparison of the efficiency of Geometric Morphometrics (GM) to diagnose three Anopheles species including males and females of An. barbirostris s.l. van der Wulp An. epiroticus Linton and Harbach and An. subpictus s.l. Grassi in Thailand by using the Land Mark-based (LM), semil and mark-based (LMSL) methods of GM. The results of the size and shape analysis revealed clear similarities of both the LM and LMSL methods. The analysis of wing size based on centroid size in both the LM and LMSL methods indicated that the wing size patterns were different in all species except between An. epiroticus and An. subpictus s.l. females. All pairwise comparisons of wing shape based on Mahalanobis distance scores presented significant differences (permutation test: 1,000 cycles, p<0.05). Cross-validated reclassification scores based on assessing the accuracy of cluster recognition showed that the LMSL method was slightly more efficient than the LM method (96 vs. 91%). This study revealed that using the LMSL method can better separate the females and males of An. barbirostris s.l., An. subpictus s.l. and An. epiroticus than LM which can be useful in guiding the identification of correct vectors for malaria control.
Tanawat Chaiphongpachara and Sedthapong Laojun, 2019. Comparison of the Efficiency of Landmark-Based and Semilandmark-Based Geometric Morphometrics to Diagnose Three Anopheles Species. Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 18: 71-77.