SPECIATION IN MOSQUITOES: Current Concepts of Evolutionary Mechanisms in Mosquitoes

The processes by which a panmictic population is broken up into smaller, differentiated groups is one of the central problems involved in the study of the evolutionary mechanism. In mosquitoes, it appears evident that a considerable amount of physiological, but relatively little morphological differentiation has taken place, so that several groups of sibling species exist. The morphological and taxonomic picture of “species” at the present time is therefore highly inaccurate. It is true that morphological variability is restricted, but the physiological differences, plus the reproductive barriers between populations clearly indicate the specific status of many populations.