Culex (Culex) perexiguus Theobald, 1903

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 : 34-36

Culex (Culex) perexiguus Theobald, 1903 ( Fig. 33 )

Type locality. Sidon , Lebanon.

Distribution. This species is found in the Oriental and Palaearctic Regions ( Azari-Hamidian et al. 2019). In the Middle East and Norh Africa, it has been recorded (as Cx. univittatus Theobald in most cases) in Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey and United Arab Emirates ( Mattingly & Knight 1956; White 1980; Harbach 1985, 1988, 1999; Harbach et al. 1989; Jupp & Harbach 1990; Amr et al. 1997; Al-Khalili et al. 2000; Alten et al. 2000; Brunhes et al. 2000; Rueda et al. 2008; Kheir et al. 2010; Al Ahmad et al. 2011; Alahmed 2012; Ammar et al. 2013; Kardousha 2015; Mahyoub et al. 2015; Lemine et al. 2017; Shaalan et al. 2017; Tabbabi et al. 2017; Trari et al. 2017; Aqeehal et al. 2019; Azari-Hamidian et al. 2019; Camp et al. 2019; Colton et al. 2019; Farag et al. 2021; Simsaa et al. 2021; Wilkerson et al. 2021; Khalefa et al. 2022). It was recorded for the first time in Saudi Arabia by Harbach (1985).

Remarks. Harbach (1988) showed that the old records of Cx. univittatus in southwestern Asia refer to Cx. perexiguus .

Medical importance. Culex perexiguus is a well recognized vector of West Nile virus in Africa, Europe and the Middle East ( Hubálek & Halouzka 1999; Jupp 2001; Muñoz et al. 2012). It is also a vector of Sindbis virus ( Harbach 1988). In Portugal, this species was reported to harbor Plasmodium species ( Ferraguti et al. 2013). Wills et al. (1985) detected Sindbis virus in Cx. perexiguus (as Cx. univittatus ) in Saudi Arabia.

Figures

FIGURE 33. Culex perexiguus, female (photo by James Turner, National Museum of Wales).