Culex (Culex) simpsoni Theobald, 1905

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 : 38

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5394.1.1
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:6D86633F-0167-414D-B511-550BCBE578CD
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10438243
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treatment provided by	Plazi (2023-12-28 08:31:07, last updated 2024-11-29 15:05:44)
scientific name	Culex (Culex) simpsoni Theobald, 1905
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Culex (Culex) simpsoni Theobald, 1905 View in CoL ( Fig. 36 View FIGURE 36 )

Type locality. Transvaal , South Africa.

Distribution. This species is widespread in the Afrotropical Region ( Wilkerson et al. 2021). In the Middle East and North Africa, it occurs in Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Yemen ( Edwards 1914; Lewis 1956; Knight 1953a; Mattingly & Knight 1956; White 1980; Harbach 1985, 1988; van Harten & Wagener 1994; Brunhes et al. 2000; Alahmed et al. 2010; Kheir et al. 2010; Al Ahmad et al. 2011; Alahmed 2012; Al Ashry et al. 2014; Tantely et al. 2016; Lemine et al. 2017; Trari et al. 2017; Simsaa et al. 2021; Wilkerson et al. 2021). It seems that the first record of the species in Saudi Arabia is attributable to Kheir et al. (2010).

Remarks. Alahmed et al. (2019) commented that the record of this species in Saudi Arabia is doubtful and requires confirmation since the identification was based on larvae and adults and not on the male genitalia, which provide the only reliable characters to distinguish this species from the closely related Cx. sinaiticus Kirkpatrick.

Medical importance. Nothing is known about the vector potential of this species, but it is not likely to be of importance in disease transmission because it only rarely bites humans ( Mattingly & Brown 1955). Rift Valley fever virus was detected in a mixed batch of Culex species, which included Cx. simpsoni , in Madagascar ( Tantely et al. 2016).

References

Al Ashry, H. A., Kenawy, M. A. & Shobrak, M. (2014) Fauna of mosquito larvae (Diptera: Culicida [sic]) in Asir Provence [sic], Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Journal of the Egyptian Society of Parasitology, 44 (1), 173 - 186. https: // doi. org / 10.12816 / 0006457

Alahmed, A. M., Al Kuriji, M. A., Kheir, S. M., Al Haqawi, H. M. & Sultan, E. A. A. (2010) Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) and their seasonal activity in Jazan Region, Saudi Arabia. Journal of the Saudi Society of Agricultural Sciences, 9, 136 - 138.

Alahmed, M. A. (2012) Mosquito fauna (Diptera: Culicidae) of the Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia and their seasonal abundance. Journal King Saud University for Science, 24 (1), 55 - 62. https: // doi. org / 10.1016 / j. jksus. 2010.12.001

Alahmed, A. M., Munawar, K., Khalil, S. M. S. & Harbach, R. E. (2019) Assessment and an updated list of the mosquitoes of Saudi Arabia. Parasites & Vectors, 12, 356. https: // doi. org / 10.1186 / s 13071 - 019 - 3579 - 4

Brunhes, J., Hassaine, K., Rhaim, A. & Hervy, J. - P. (2000) Les Culicides de l'Afrique mediterraneenne: especes presentes et repartition (Diptera, Nematocera). Bulletin de la Societe entomologique de France, 105 (2), 195 - 204. https: // doi. org / 10.3406 / bsef. 2000.16659

Edwards, F. W. (1914) New species of Culicidae in the British Museum, with notes on the genitalia of some African Culex. Bulletin of Entomological Research, 5 (1), 63 - 81. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / S 0007485300034568

Harbach, R. E. (1985) Pictorial keys to the genera of mosquitoes, subgenera of Culex and the species of Culex (Culex) occurring in southwestern Asia and Egypt, with note on the subgeneric placement of Culex deserticola (Diptera: Culicidae). Mosquito Systematics, 17 (2), 83 - 107.

Harbach, R. E. (1988) The mosquitoes of the subgenus Culex in southwestern Asia and Egypt (Diptera: Culicidae). Contributions of the American Entomological Institute, 24 (1), vi + 1 - 236.

Kheir, S. M., Alahmed, A. M., Al Kuriji, M. A. & Al Zubyani, S. F. (2010) Distribution and seasonal activity of mosquitoes in Al Madinah Al Munwwarah, Saudi Arabia. Journal of the Egyptian Society of Parasitology, 40 (1), 215 - 227. https: // doi. org / 10.3923 / je. 2010.227.234

Knight, K. L. (1953 a) Two new species of mosquitoes from the Yemen (Diptera: Culicidae). Journal of the Washington Academy of Science, 43 (10), 320 - 325.

Lemine, A. M. M., Lemrabott, M. A. O., Ebou, M. H., Lekweiry, K. M., Salem, M. S. O. A., Brahim, K. O., Moukah, M. O., Bouraya, I. N. O., Brengues, C., Trape, J. - F., Basco, L., Bogreau, H., Simard, F., Faye, O. & Boukhary, A. O. M. S. (2017) Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in Mauritania: a review of their biodiversity, distribution and medical importance. Parasites & Vectors, 10, 35. https: // doi. org / 10.1186 / s 13071 - 017 - 1978 - y

Lewis, D. J. (1956) The Culex mosquitoes of the Sudan. Bulletin of Entomological Research, 47 (4), 703 - 721. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / S 0007485300046940

Mattingly, P. F. & Brown, E. S. (1955) The mosquitos [sic] (Diptera: Culicidae) of the Seychelles. Bulletin of Entomological Research, 46 (1), 69 - 110, 3 pls. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / S 0007485300030777

Mattingly, P. F. & Knight, K. L. (1956) The mosquitoes of Arabia. I. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Entomology, 4 (3), 91 - 141.

Simsaa, M. A. A., Harbach, R. E., Almalik, A. M. A., Ahmed, E. M., Eisa, A. A., Mohamed, A. H. & Azrag, R. S. (2021) Culex mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) recorded along the Nile River in central and northern Sudan, with a key for the identification of all species of the genus known to occur in the country. Zootaxa, 4963 (3), 401 - 411. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 4963.3.1

Tantely, M. L., Le Goff, G., Boyer, S. & Fontenille, D. (2016) An updated checklist of mosquito species (Diptera: Culicidae) from Madagascar. Parasite, 23, 20. https: // doi. org / 10.1051 / parasite / 2016018

Theobald, F. V. (1905) New Culicidae from India, Africa, British Guiana, and Australia. Journal of Economic Biology, 1, 17 - 36, 1 pls.

Trari, B., Dakki, M. & Harbach, R. E. (2017) An updated checklist of the Culicidae (Diptera) of Morocco, with notes on species of historical and current medical importance. Journal of Vector Ecology, 42 (1), 94 - 104. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / jvec. 12243

van Harten, A. & Wagener, B. (1994) Terrestrial arthropods of the Republic of Yemen. A checklist. Sana'a Yemen, Yemeni- German plant Protection Project. ii + 147 pp.

White, G. B. (1980) Family Culicidae. In: Crosskey, R. W. (Ed.), Catalogue of the Diptera of the Afrotropical Region. British Museum (Natural History), London, pp. 114 - 148.

Wilkerson, R. C., Linton, Y. - M. & Strickman, D. A. (2021) Mosquitoes of the world. Vols 1 and 2. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltomore, Maryland, 1308 pp. https: // doi. org / 10.1186 / s 13071 - 021 - 04848 - 6