Culex (Culex) decens 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 : 31

Culex (Culex) decens Theobald, 1901c ( Fig. 28 )

Type locality. Bonny , Nigeria.

Distribution. This species is widespread in the Afrotropical Region ( Wilkerson et al. 2021). In the Middle East, it occurs in Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen ( Edwards 1914; Knight 1953b; Lewis 1956; Mattingly & Knight 1956; Abdel-Malek 1960; White 1980; Harbach 1985, 1988; van Harten & Wagener 1994; Abdoon 2004; Al-Ali et al. 2008; Mutebi et al. 2012; Lemine et al. 2017; Tantely et al. 2016, 2017; Wilkerson et al. 2021). It was recorded for the first time in Saudi Arabia by Abdoon (2004).

Remarks. Knight (1953b) and Harbach (1988) noted some morphological differences in the ventral surface of the proboscis and the scutal scaling between specimens from Yemen and the Africa.

Medical importance. Culex decens is a vector of Sindbis and Usutu viruses ( Cornet et al. 1979), Moussa virus ( Quan et al. 2010) and Babanki, Bagaza, Kamese, M’Poko, Mossuril and West Nile viruses ( Fontenille 1989; Adam & Digoutte 2005; Tantely et al. 2016).

Figures

FIGURE 28. Culex decens, female (Natural History Museum, London, photo by James Turner, National Museum of Wales).