Culex (Maillotia) salisburiensis Theobald, 1901a

Dawah, Hassan A., Abdullah, Mohammed A., Ahmad, Syed Kamran, Turner, James & Azari-Hamidian, Shahyad, 2023, An overview of the mosquitoes of Saudi Arabia (Diptera: Culicidae), with updated keys to the adult females, Zootaxa 5394 (1), pp. 1-76 : 46

Culex (Maillotia) salisburiensis Theobald, 1901a ( Fig. 44 )

Type locality. Salisbury , Mashonaland, Zimbabwe.

Distribution. This species is found in the Afrotropical Region ( Wilkerson et al. 2021). In the Middle East, it has been recorded in Saudi Arabia and Yemen ( Knight 1953b; Mattingly & Knight 1956; White 1980; Miller et al. 2002; Tantely et al. 2016; Wilkerson et al. 2021). It was recorded for the first time in Saudi Arabia by Miller et al. (2002).

Remarks. Knight (1953b) found many differences between adult specimens of Cx. salisburiensis from Yemen and the description of the species provided by Edwards (1941). However, it was confirmed that there were errors in Edwards’s description ( Harbach & Wilkerson 2023). Mattingly & Knight (1956) noted that the specimens from Yemen correspond to the nominotypical form.

Medical importance. Culex salisburiensis , like other species of the subgenus Maillotia , is of no medical importance to humans ( Tantely et al. 2016; Becker et al. 2020).

Figures

FIGURE 44. Culex salisburiensis, female (Natural History Museum, London, photo by Natural History Museum, London).