Culiseta (Culiseta) subochrea ( Edwards, 1921 )

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 : 48-49

Culiseta (Culiseta) subochrea ( Edwards, 1921) ( Fig. 47 )

Type locality. Amager , Copenhagen, Denmark.

Distribution. This species is found in the Palaearctic Region ( Azari-Hamidian et al. 2019). In the Middle East and North Africa, it has been recorded in Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Tunisia ( Abdel-Malek 1960; Wills et al. 1985; Harbach et al. 1989; Minář 1991; Brunhes et al. 2000; Rueda et al. 2008; Wegner 2009; Al Ahmad et al. 2011; Shaalan et al. 2017; Tabbabi et al. 2017; Trari et al. 2017; Boudemagh et al. 2018; Azari-Hamidian et al. 2019; Merdić et al. 2020; Wilkerson et al. 2021). It was recorded for the first time in Saudi Arabia by Wills et al. (1985).

Remarks. Edwards (in Wesenberg-Lund 1921) described this species as a variety of Cs. annulata (Schrank) . In the same year, Edwards (1921) raised it to specific rank. This was followed for many years until Maslov (1964) reduced it to a subspecies of Cs. annulata . Finally, Ribeiro et al. (1977), Harbach et al. (1989) and Samanidou-Voyadjoglou & Darsie (1993) again recognized its specific status.

Medical importance. Although Cs. subochrea is reported to bite humans, little is known about its vector potential ( Becker et al. 2020).

Figures

FIGURE 47. Culiseta subochrea, female (Natural History Museum, London, photo by James Turner, National Museum of Wales).