Aedes (Ochlerotatus) caspius ( Pallas, 1771 )

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 : 25-26

Aedes (Ochlerotatus) caspius ( Pallas, 1771) s.l. ( Fig. 22 )

Type locality. Marshes near the Caspian Sea.

Distribution. This species is found in the Afrotropical, Oriental and Palaearctic Regions ( Azari-Hamidian et al. 2019; Wilkerson et al. 2021). In the Middle East and North Africa, it has been recorded in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Yemen ( Mattingly & Knight 1956; Abdel-Malek 1960; White 1980; Büttiker 1981; Wills et al. 1985; Service 1986; Harbach et al. 1989; Minář 1991; Salit et al. 1994; van Harten & Wagener, 1994; Al-Houty 1997; Amr et al. 1997; Alten et al. 2000; Al-Khalili et al. 2000; Brunhes et al. 2000; Knio et al. 2005; El Khereji et al. 2007; Rueda et al. 2008; Wegner 2009; Alahmed et al. 2009, 2010; Kheir et al. 2010; Al Ahmad et al. 2011; Alahmed 2012; Ammar et al. 2013; Mahyoub et al. 2013; Sulesco et al. 2013; Alikhan et al. 2014; Bakr et al. 2014; Kardousha 2015, 2016; Shaalan et al. 2017; Tabbabi et al. 2017; Trari et al. 2017; Aqeehal et al. 2019; Azari-Hamidian et al. 2019; Ben Ayed et al. 2019; Camp et al. 2019; Alkhayat et al. 2020; Merdić et al. 2020; Farag 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. Aedes caspius is the nominotypical member of a species complex, which includes Ae. hargreavesi Edwards and two sibling species denoted as species A and B ( Cianchi et al. 1980). Ribeiro et al. (1980) and Harbach & Wilkerson (2023) should be consulted for characters that distinguish the species.

Medical importance. Aedes caspius is a vector of Rift Valley fever, Sindbis, Tahyna and West Nile viruses, transmits microfilariae of Dirofilaria immitis and D. repens in Europe, is an efficient vector of the tularaemia bacterium Francisella tularensis in Russia and the causal agent (poxvirus) of myxomatosis ( Gad et al. 1987; Schaffner et al. 2001; Gratz 2004a; Trari et al. 2017; Ferreira et al. 2015). In southern Spain, this species has been found infected with avian Plasmodium ( Ferraguti et al. 2013) . There are no reports on the medical importance of this species in Saudi Arabia ( Khater et al. 2013).

Figures

FIGURE 22. Aedes caspius s.l., male (photo by James Turner, National Museum of Wales).