Anopheles (Anopheles) messeae Falleroni, 1926

Khalin, A. V. & Aibulatov, S. V., 2021, Northernmost records of mosquito species (Diptera: Culicidae) in northwestern Russia, Zoosystematica Rossica (Zoosyst. Rossica) 30 (1), pp. 46-63 : 49

Anopheles (Anopheles) messeae Falleroni, 1926

Northernmost records ( Fig. 2b ). 69°16 ′ 2.06 ″ N, 30°8 ′ 24.28 ″ E, MP, Pechenga Distr., Shuoniyoki River *, 6.VI.1957 (MOC) ; 64°31 ′ 49.15 ″ N, 34°45 ′ 47.98 ″ E, RK, Belomorsk Distr., Belomorsk ( Perevozkin et al., 2012) ; 64°32 ′ 23.68 ″ N, 40°30 ′ 56.71 ″ E, AP, Arkhangelsk ( Sharkov, 1982) ; 63°33 ′ 45.45 ″ N, 53°41 ′ 2.48 ″ E, Komi, Ukhta Distr., Ukhta ( Panyukova & Ostroushko, 2017) .

Distribution. NWR: AP, Komi, KP, LP, MP*, NP, PP, RK, VP. Adjacent countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Belarus. Europe (ranging northward to the UK, Belgium and Denmark), European Russia, Siberia, Central Asia, northeastern China.

Note. The only available specimen from NWR is a head of a female from Shuoniyoki River (Murmansk Province), mounted on a slide and identified by A.V. Gutsevich as Anopheles messeae . We cannot confirm this identification. A reliable identification of An. messeae based on morphology is impossible at the adult and larval stages but it is possible at the egg stage. Possibly the female was reared from an egg identified as An. messeae . Three other localities mentioned above are situated not as far north as Shuoniyoki, at latitudes similar with An. maculipennis and An. beklemishevi . We have no arguments to consider these records as doubtful.

Figures

Fig. 2. Northernmost records of Anopheles and Aedes spp. Doubtful records are marked with an asterisk (*).