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Molecular studies on population genetics of speciation across Iran have recently started. Morphological and molecular studies have showed that 25 species of genus Anopheles are present in the country; however, relationships between vector and non-vector species as well as compatibility of morphological characters with molecular data have not been verified. Molecular phylogenetic analysis was undertaken on the Anopheles and Cellia subgenus members internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) sequences submitted to GenBank among the Oriental and Palearctic members in north and southern Iran. rDNA-ITS2 sequences were extracted from the GenBank and analyzed using bioinformatics softwares: BLAST, ITS2 annotation tool (version 3.0.13), ClustalW, and MEGA5 in neighbor-joining and maximum likelihood algorithms. There are not any submitted sequences in GenBank from Iran for the following seven species: Anopheles algeriensis, Anopheles marteri, Anopheles plumbeus, Anopheles peditaeniatus, Anopheles melanoon, Anopheles subpictus, and Anopheles mongolensis; therefore, they have not been included in the study. Although these molecular-based phylogenetic trees match well enough with classical morphological taxonomy, the arrangement of species did not match with morphological classification in some cases. Correct species identification is essential for control of vector born disease such as malaria; therefore, phylogenetic methods will help to understand the relationship among the members of the target species within the genus Anopheles. It could also help us to design molecular markers for species differentiation particularly in cryptic species, which is difficult to classify them based on morphological features., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Anopheles stephensi is one of the most important malaria vectors in the Middle-East, the Indian subcontinent, the Far-East and is the main malaria vector in south of Iran. This vector is thought to be a single but polytypic species, despite its enormous geographical range. To examine this hypothesis, we analyzed the rDNA-ITS2 and RAPD loci in different populations of An. stephensi from Iran. rDNA-ITS2 region in all sequenced specimens of An. stephensi contained a (CA)7 microsatellite sequence. Construction of phylogenetic tree based on rDNA-ITS2 sequences revealed that there only is a minor polymorphism between the different populations, despite their vast geographical distances. RAPD-PCR could differentiate rural and urban populations of An. stephensi, but it is unclear whether these two samples represent mysorensis and the type form. Further characterization of interested RAPD fragments by cloning; have shown the nature of inverted repeats and the presence of microsatellite region (GT) in both ends near to inverted repeat sequences of primers. These results showed that An. stephensi in Iran could be considered a single species with different biological and ecological forms in different zoogeographical zones. Further studies are needed to demonstrate the relation between RAPD and microsatellite sequences and the differences seen in the field for this species. This data will serve as first report on the sequence of rDNA-ITS2 and a microsatellite-containing RAPD region, which could be used for species-specific diagnosis and differentiation of urban and rural populations in An. stephensi.