Aedes (Ochlerotatus) caballus ( Theobald, 1912 )

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 : 24-25

Aedes (Ochlerotatus) caballus ( Theobald, 1912) ( Fig. 21 )

Type locality. Onderstepoort , Transvall , South Africa.

Distribution. This species is mostly found in the Afrotropical Region ( Azari-Hamidian et al. 2019). In the Middle East, it has been recorded in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Yemen ( Mattingly & Knight 1956; White 1980; Jupp et al. 2002; Reinert et al. 2009; Azari-Hamidian et al. 2019; Wilkerson et al. 2021). It was recorded for the first time in Saudi Arabia by Jupp et al. (2002).

Remarks. Reinert et al. (2009) established Juppius as a subgenus of the genus Ochlerotatus for three morphologically similar species: Ae. caballus, Ae. chelli (Edwards) and Ae. juppi McIntosh. However, in the classification of Wilkerson et al. (2015), Juppius was reduced to a species group ( Juppius Group) in the subgenus Ochlerotatus of Aedes . McIntosh (1973) can be consulted for the taxonomy of the three species.

Medical importance. Aedes caballus is assumed to be a vector of Middelburg, Rift Valley fever, Wesselsbron and West Nile viruses in South Africa ( McIntosh 1973).

Figures

FIGURE 21. Aedes caballus, female (Natural History Museum, London, photo by Natural History Museum, London).