Anopheles (Anopheles) parapunctipennis Martini

Harbach, Ralph E. & Wilkerson, Richard C., 2023, The insupportable validity of mosquito subspecies (Diptera: Culicidae) and their exclusion from culicid classification, Zootaxa 5303 (1), pp. 1-184 : 58

Anopheles (Anopheles) parapunctipennis Martini

subspecies guatemalensis de León, 1938 —original combination: Anopheles (Anopheles) chiriquiensis var. guatemalensis (subspecific status by Wilkerson 1990). Distribution: Guatemala (Wilkerson 1990).

subspecies parapunctipennis Martini, 1932 —original combination: Anopheles parapunctipennis . Distribution: Guatemala, Mexico (Wilkerson 1990).

The nominotypical subspecies belongs to the Pseudopunctipennis Group ( Reid & Knight 1961). Most members of the group are large, high elevation species which share a number of distinctive morphological characters (see the treatment of An. pseudopunctipennis Theobald below). Wilkerson (1990) established that a synonym of An. parapunctipennis , i.e. Anopheles (Anopheles) chiriquiensis Komp, 1936 , was a valid species. However, he left guatemalensis as a subspecies of parapunctipennis and stated that a single character in the female (but not the male) separated it from the nominotypical species: Vein R 1 dark at the subcostal pale spot, pale in parapunctipennis . The type locality of the nominotypical subspecies is San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas Mexico (coordinates: 16.73176, -92.64126) and the type locality of subspecies guatemalensis is Cumbre del Aire, Department of Totonicapán, Guatemala (coordinates: 15.11667, -91.56667). The two localities are only 213 km apart in the same mountain range (coordinates and distance: D. Pecor pers. comm.). Given there is insufficient morphological indication that these nominal forms are genetically distinct, and that the type localities are geographically close enough to assume sympatry, we hereby recognize guatemalensis as a synonymous name: guatemalensis de León, 1938, junior subjective synonym of Anopheles (Anopheles) parapunctipennis Martini, 1932 . The nominal guatemalensis, which is listed as a species in the Encyclopedia of Life, must be removed from the list of valid species of Anopheles .