GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION AND BITING BEHAVIOUR OF FOUR SPECIES OF THE ANOPHELES DIRUS COMPLEX . (DIPTERA : CULICIDAE) IN THAILAND

Anopheles &-us, Peyton and Harrison 1979, consists of a group of isomorphic species (Baimai et al., 1984b for review), four of which are common in Thailand: species A, B, C and D. We know that this taxon includes important vectors of human malarial parasites in Southeast Asia (Ismail et al., 1975 (= balabacensis); Rosenberg and Maheswary 1982; Rosenberg et al., in press), but know nothing of any relative differences in vectorial capacity between the member species of the taxon. This is because the only method of identification, which initially lead to the discovery of these isomorphic species in Thailand (Baimai et al. 198 1, 1984b, 1987, 1988), is impractical in malarial epidemiological research. The limitations of the method (see below) have been detailed in Panyim et al. (1988) in their effort to develop an alternative method of species identification more appropriate to malariometric studies.