Anopheles (Cellia) arabiensis Patton, 1905

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

Anopheles (Cellia) arabiensis Patton, 1905 ( Fig. 3 )

Type locality. Aden Hinterland , Yemen.

Distribution. This species is widespread in the Afrotropical Region ( Wilkerson et al. 2021). In the Middle East, it is only found in Saudi Arabia and Yemen ( Knight 1953b; Mattingly & Knight 1956; Kouznetsov 1976; White 1980; Glick 1992; Abdoon & Alshahrani 2003; Alahmed et al. 2009; Al Ahmad et al. 2011; Al-Sheik 2011; Alahmed 2012; Al-Eryani et al. 2016; Tantely et al. 2016; Lemine et al. 2017; Al Awaidy & Khamis 2019; Irish et al. 2020; Wilkerson et al. 2021). The species was recorded for the first time in Saudi Arabia (as An. gambiae ) by Mattingly & Knight (1956).

Remarks. Anopheles arabiensis is a member of the Afrotropical An. gambiae species complex, which consists of eight species and includes non-malaria vectors ( Coluzzi et al. 2002; Coetzee et al. 2000, 2013; Munawar et al. 2020). Munawar et al. (2020), using molecular methods, found that An. arabiensis is the only member of the An. gambiae complex present in Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Anopheles arabiensis in the Arabian Peninsula was listed as An. gambiae in many older records ( Knight 1953b; Mattingly & Knight 1956; Alahmed et al. 2009; Al Ahmad et al. 2011; Alahmed 2012).

Medical importance. Anopheles arabiensis is the major malaria vector in Saudi Arabia and Yemen ( Kouznetsov 1976; Al-Eryani et al. 2016; Alahmed et al. 2019).

Figures

FIGURE 3. Anopheles arabiensis, female (Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, photo by David Pecor, Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit).