Culex (Culex) sitiens Wiedemann, 1828

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 : 40

Culex (Culex) sitiens Wiedemann, 1828 ( Fig. 38 )

Type locality. Sumatra, Indonesia.

Distribution. This species is found in the Afrotropical, Australasian, Oriental and Palaearctic Regions ( Azari-Hamidian et al. 2019). In the Middle East and North Africa, it is recorded in Egypt, Iran, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen ( Edwards 1914; Knight 1953a, b; Lewis 1956; Mattingly & Knight 1956; White 1980; Harbach 1985, 1988; Harbach et al. 1989; Minář 1991; Harbach 1998; van Harten & Wagener 1994; Al Ahmad et al. 2011; Kardousha 2015; Hassan et al. 2016; Irish et al. 2016; Tantely et al. 2016; Gunathilaka 2018; Azari-Hamadian et al. 2019; Camp et al. 2019; Maquart et al. 2021; Schaffner et al. 2021; Wilkerson et al. 2021). It was recorded for the first time in Saudi Arabia by Mattingly & Knight (1956).

Remarks. Noureldin et al. (2021) utilized, for the first time, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to identify Cx. sitiens in the Jazan region and the whole of Saudi Arabia.

Medical importance. Culex sitiens is a potential vector for Japanese encephalitis virus ( Vythilingam et al. 2002). Also, Eubenangee, Mossuril, Murray Valley encephalitis, Ross River, Sepik, Sindbis and Tembusu viruses, fillariae of Brugia malayi and Dirofilaria immitis , and avian plasmodia have been isolated from this species ( Ludham et al. 1970; Tantely et al. 2016; Maquart et al. 2021; Wilkerson et al. 2021).

Figures

FIGURE 38. Culex sitiens, female (Natural History Museum, London, photo by James Turner, National Museum of Wales).