Culiseta (Allotheobaldia) longiareolata ( Macquart, 1838 )

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 : 48

Culiseta (Allotheobaldia) longiareolata ( Macquart, 1838) ( Fig. 46 )

Type locality. Canary Islands, Spain.

Distribution. This species is found in the Afrotropical, Oriental 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, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Yemen ( Knight 1953b; Mattingly & Knight 1956; Abdel-Malek 1960; Margalit & Tahori 1974; Harbach et al. 1989; Minář 1991; Salit et al. 1994; Al-Houty 1997; Amr et al. 1997; Alten et al. 2000; Brunhes et al. 2000; Azari-Hamidian 2005; Knio et al. 2005; El Khereji et al. 2007; Rueda et al. 2008; Alahmed et al. 2009; Kheir et al. 2010; Al Ahmad et al. 2011; Alahmed 2012; Al Ahmed et al. 2013; Ammar et al. 2013; Al Ashry et al. 2014; Shaalan et al. 2017; Tabbabi et al. 2017; Trari et al. 2017; Aqeehal et al. 2019; Azari-Hamidian et al. 2019; Camp et al. 2019; Farag et al. 2021; Wilkerson et al. 2021; Khalefa et al. 2022). It was recorded for the first time in Saudi Arabia by Mattingly & Knight (1956).

Remarks. Culiseta longiareolata is the only species of the subgenus Allotheobaldia ( Wilkerson et al. 2021) . Maslov (1964, 1989) elevated the subgenus to genus rank for the subtribe Culisetina of the tribe Culisetini . However, the subtribe has not been accepted ( Wilkerson et al. 2021).

Medical importance. This species does not enter human dwellings and rarely bites humans, but it is considered to be a vector of avian malaria ( Schaffner et al. 2001) and West Nile, avian influenza and Malta fever viruses ( Maslov 1989).

Figures

FIGURE 46. Culiseta longiareolata, female (Natural History Museum, London, photo by James Turner, National Museum of Wales).