Anopheles ( Cellia ) pulcherrimus Theobald, 1902

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 : 17

Anopheles ( Cellia) pulcherrimus Theobald, 1902 ( Fig. 12)

Type locality. Lahore , Pakistan .

Distribution. This species is found in the Oriental and Palaearctic Regions ( Azari-Hamidian et al. 2019). In the Middle East, it has been recorded in Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey and United Arab Emirates ( Mattingly & Knight 1956; Service 1986; Minář 1991; Glick 1992; Salit et al. 1994; Al-Houty 1997; Alten et al. 2000; Ramsdale et al. 2001; Rueda et al. 2008; Azari-Hamidian et al. 2019; Wilkerson et al. 2021). It was first recorded in Saudi Arabia by Mattingly & Knight (1956).

Remarks. Kirti & Kaur (2004) reported that there are variations in the ornatmentation of the maxillary palpi and wings in natural populations of this species collected in northwestern India . Therefore, taxonomists should be aware of this as it may lead to misidentification.

Medical importance. Anopheles pulcherrimus is confirmed as a vector of malaria in parts of the former USSR and Afghanistan ( Onori et al. 1975; Sergiev et al. 1993). It was identified as a potential vector in Sistan and Baluchistan Province in southeastern Iran based on immunoradiometric assay detection of Plasmodium vivax ( Zaim et al. 1993) . Also, Tyagin and Rift Valley fever viruses have been found in this species ( Wilkerson et al. 2021).