Anopheles (Cellia) subpictus Grassi, 1899

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 : 20

Anopheles (Cellia) subpictus Grassi, 1899 s.l. (in Grassi et al. 1899) ( Fig. 16 )

Type locality. India .

Distribution. This species is mostly found in the Oriental Region but also occurs in the Australasian and Palaearctic Regions ( Azari-Hamidian et al. 2019; Wilkerson et al. 2021). In the Middle East, it has been recorded in Iran and Saudi Arabia ( Minář 1991; Glick 1992; Al-Khalili et al. 2000; Al-Ghamdi et al. 2008; Rueda et al. 2008; Alahmed et al. 2009; Kheir et al. 2010; Al Ahmad et al. 2011; Alahmed 2012; Gakhar et al. 2013; Irish et al. 2016; Gunathilaka 2018; Azari-Hamidian et al. 2019; Maquart et al. 2021; Wilkerson et al. 2021). This species was recorded for the first time in Saudi Arabia by Al-Ghamdi et al. (2008).

Remarks. The An. subpictus complex includes four sibling species in India , informally denoted as species A, B, C and D ( Suguna et al. 1994; Harbach 2013). The species cannot be reliably distinguished using morphological characters ( Amerasinghe et al. 2002; World Health Organization 2007; Surendran et al. 2013). It is not known which species of the complex is present in Saudi Arabia ( Alahmed et al. 2019)

Medical importance. Anopheles subpictus is one of the vectors of malarial protozoa, microfilariae and West Nile virus ( Amerasinghe & Amerasinghe 1999; Hubálek & Halouzka 1999; World Health Organization 1999; Chatterjee & Chandra 2000; Chandra et al. 2010). The species is known to vector Chittoor virus, an Indian variant of Batai virus ( Smith 1973), and Wuchereria bancrofti ( Service 1993) . Also, co-transmission of Plasmodium and W. bancrofti is reported for this species ( Manguin et al. 2010). Additionally, Arkonam and Japanese encephalitis viruses have been found in this species ( Wilkerson et al. 2021).

Figures

FIGURE 16. Anopheles subpictus s.l., male (Natural History Museum, London, photo by James Turner, National Museum of Wales).