Culex (Culiciomyia) nebulosus Theobald, 1901c

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 : 44

Culex (Culiciomyia) nebulosus Theobald, 1901c ( Fig. 42 )

Type locality. Old Calabar , Nigeria.

Distribution. This species is widespread in the Afrotropical Region ( Wilkerson et al. 2021). In the Middle East, it occurs in Saudi Arabia and Yemen ( Edwards 1914; Knight 1953b; Lewis 1956; Mattingly & Knight 1956; White 1980; Büttiker 1981; Miller et al. 2002; Lemine et al. 2017; Wilkerson et al. 2021). It was recorded for the first time in Saudi Arabia by Büttiker (1981).

Remarks. Culex nebulosus is the only representative of its subgenus in the region ( Harbach 1988).

Medical importance. In Africa, this species is involved in the transmission of Ntaya virus ( Brottes et al. 1966) and Babahoyo, Bagaza, M’Poko, Middelburg, Tai and Yaoundé viruses ( Adam & Digoutte 2005; Tantely et al. 2016). Females of Cx. nebulosus rarely attack humans ( Kerr 1933).

Figures

FIGURE 42. Culex nebulosus, male (photo by Rachel Diaz-Bastin, California Academy of Sciences).