Culex (Culex) univittatus Theobald, 1901b

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 : 43

Culex (Culex) univittatus Theobald, 1901b ( Fig. 41 )

Type locality. Salisbury , Zimbabwe.

Distribution. This species is mostly found in the Afrotropical Region ( Harbach 1988). In the Middle East, it occurs in southwestern Saudi Arabia and Yemen ( Harbach 1985, 1988, 1999; Jupp & Harbach 1990; Alahmed et al. 2009, 2019). It was recorded for the first time in Saudi Arabia by Alahmed et al. (2009).

Remarks. The old records of Cx. univittatus in southwestern Asia refer to Cx. perexiguus (see Harbach 1988). Further study of the Univittatus Assemblage in Africa and Asia, perhaps including molecular analyses, is needed ( Azari-Hamidian & Harbach 2009). Culex univittatus has a line of scales marking the position of vein 2A, which is unique among mosquitoes ( Harbach 1988). Alahmed et al. (2019) believed that the record of this species in Saudi Arabia requires verification as the identification of this species was based on larvae and adults and it should have been based on the male genitalia, which provide the only reliable characters to distinguish this species from the closely related Cx. perexiguus . In this regard, the old records of this species in Algeria ( Senevet et al. 1957), Egypt ( Abdel-Malek 1960), Iraq ( Rueda et al. 2008), Israel ( Margalit & Tahori 1974), Dubai of United Arab Emirates ( Service 1986), Kuwait ( Al-Houty 1997), Lebanon ( Abdel-Malek 1960), Morocco ( Trari et al. 2017), Oman ( Mattingly & Knight 1956), Qatar ( Kardousha 2015), Syria ( Abdel-Malek 1960) and Tunisia ( Tabbabi et al. 2017) are doubtful, probably based on misidentified specimens of Cx. perexiguus .

Medical importance. In areas of the Afrotropical Region, Cx. univittatus is a competent vector of arboviruses of public health importance, such as Sindbis virus ( Weinbren et al. 1956), West Nile virus ( McIntosh et al. 1967; Schaffner et al. 2021), Wesselsbron virus ( Worth & de Meillon 1960), Rift Valley fever virus and potentially Usutu virus in South Africa ( Jupp 1971; McIntosh et al. 1976; Nikolay et al. 2011; Simsaa et al. 2021). Tantely et al. (2016) reported that in Afrotropical Africa this species is involved in the transmission of Babahovo, Bagaza, Rift Valley fever and West Nile viruses, as well as Wuchereria bancrofti and avian Plasmodium (presence of sporozoites). Also, Spondweni virus has been isolated from this species ( Wilkerson et al. 2021).

Figures

FIGURE 41. Culex univittatus, female (Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, photo by David Pecor, Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit).