Molecular Phylogenetic Analysis of New Zealand Mosquito Species

Taxonomic information for New Zealand mosquito species is predominantly morphological with very few molecular data available to date. In this study, the 5’ end of COI (775 nt) and ITS1 of the nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer regions (388 – 638 nt) were amplified and sequenced from DNA templates representing 17 species in total; the 15 previously known New Zealand mosquito species,  a newly discovered undescribed Aedes sp. nov. from the Chatham Islands and a recently eradicated invader, Ae. camptorhynchus. This paper provides DNA barcoding sequences for the entire New Zealand mosquito biota, the first for the majority of these species. Phylogenetic analysis of COI and ITS1 indicated that the endemic species are all genetically distinct from the exotic species examined including disease vector species.  The genus Opifex is distant from the genus Aedes but Ae. chathamicus is not thereby refuting the proposed move of this species to the genus Opifex by Reinert et. al. (2004). Culex asteliae results show it to be a valid species but Cx. rotoruae not necessarily so. The Aedes sp. nov. appears to be a valid new species closely related to Ae. subalbirostris. No evidence of population variation based on geographic location was detected.