Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti ( Linnaeus, 1762 )

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 : 27

Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti ( Linnaeus, 1762) ( Fig. 24 )

Type locality. Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Malaysia.

Distribution. This species is cosmotropical and a known invasive mosquito. It originated in Africa but it is now firmly established in many parts of the world ( Wilkerson et al. 2021). In the Middle East and North Africa, it has been found in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran (old records), Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Yemen ( Knight 1953b; Mattingly & Knight 1956; Abdel-Malek 1960; White 1980; Minář 1991; van Harten & Wagener 1994; Pecor et al. 2002; Alten et al. 2000; Brunhes et al. 2000; Miller et al. 2002; Knio et al. 2005; Alahmed et al. 2009; Alahmad et al. 2010; Alahmed et al. 2009, 2010; El-Badry & Al-Ali 2010; Kheir et al. 2010; Al Ahmad et al. 2011; Mutebi et al. 2012; Al Ahmed et al. 2013; Mahyoub et al. 2013, 2015; Al Ashry et al. 2014; Alikhan et al. 2014; Irish et al. 2016; Tantely et al. 2016; Lemine et al. 2017; Tabbabi et al. 2017; Trari et al. 2017; van den Hurk 2018; Gunathilaka 2018; Al Awaidy & Khamis 2019; Azari-Hamidian et al. 2019; Maquart et al. 2021;; Wilkerson et al. 2021; Mashlawi et al. 2022). It was recorded for the first time in Saudi Arabia by Mattingly & Knight (1956).

Remarks. Linnaeus (1762) described this species from Egypt; Mattingly et al. (1962) described a neotype from Malaysia.

Medical importance. Aedes agypti is the primary vector of yellow fever, dengue fever, chikungunya, West Nile, Zika and many other viruses ( Khan et al. 2014; Ferreira-de-Brito et al. 2016; Tantely et al. 2016; Trari et al. 2017; Wilkerson et al. 2021). Also, Plasmodium gallinaceum and P. lophurae have been isolated from this species ( Wilkerson et al. 2021). It is also a known vector of dirofilariasis ( Ludham et al. 1970). Mahyoub et al. (2013) found a sample of Ae. aegypti in Saudi Arabia to be positive for dengue virus using the PCR technique.

Figures

FIGURE 24. Aedes aegypti, male (photo by James Turner, National Museum of Wales).