Culex (Barraudius) pusillus Macquart, 1850

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 : 29-30

Culex (Barraudius) pusillus Macquart, 1850 ( Fig. 27 )

Type locality. Egypt.

Distribution. This species is found in the Afrotropical and Palaearctic Regions ( Azari-Hamidian et al. 2019). In the Middle East and North Africa, it has been recorded in Algeria, Egypt, Iran Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey and United Arab Emirates ( Mattingly & Knight 1956; Abdel-Malek 1960; White 1980; Service 1986; Harbach et al. 1989; Salit et al. 1994; Al-Houty 1997; Harbach 1998; Al-Khalili et al. 2000; Alten et al. 2000; Brunhes et al. 2000; Rueda et al. 2008; Al Ahmad et al. 2011; Ammar et al. 2013; Kenawy et al. 2013; Kardousha 2015; Shaalan et al. 2017; Tabbabi et al. 2017; Azari-Hamadian et al. 2019; Farag et al. 2021; Wilkerson et al. 2021; Nebbak et al. 2022). It was recorded for the first time in Saudi Arabia by Mattingly & Knight (1956).

Remarks. Culex pusillus is the only representative of the subgenus Barraudius in Saudi Arabia.Another species of the subgenus in the region is Cx. modestus Ficalbi ( Harbach 1988) . Azari-Hamidian & Harbach (2009) can be consulted to distinguish the two species.

Medical importance. Little is known about the biology and behavior of the adults. Females probably do not bite humans ( Becker et al. 2020).

Figures

FIGURE 27. Culex pusillus, female (Natural History Museum, London, photo by James Turner, National Museum of Wales).