Anopheles (Cellia) azaniae Bailly-Choumara, 1960

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 : 9-10

Anopheles (Cellia) azaniae Bailly-Choumara, 1960 ( Fig. 4 )

Type locality. Somalia.

Distribution. This species is found in the Afrotropical Region ( Wilkerson et al. 2021). In the Middle East, it has been recorded in Saudi Arabia and Yemen ( White 1980; Glick 1992; Jupp et al. 2002; Kheir et al. 2010; Al-Eryani et al. 2016; Irish et al. 2020; Wilkerson et al. 2021). It was recorded for the first time in Saudi Arabia by Jupp et al. (2002) from collections made for the isolation of Rift Valley fever virus during 2000 in Jazan Province.

Remarks. Females of An. azaniae are distinguishable from the females of An. dthali by characters of the maxillary palpus, and from those of An. rupicolus by characteristics of the head scales, with which rubbed specimens they may be confused ( Gillies & de Meillon 1968). Al-Eryani et al. (2016) recorded an atypical form of An. azaniae in Yemen which displayed different wing markings and a 7% difference in COI sequence. They concluded that the specimen might be a species new to science.

Medical importance. Al-Eryani et al. (2016) believed that this species is a possible vector of malarial protozoa in Yemen.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Anopheles azaniae, female (Natural History Museum, London, photo by Natural History Museum, London).