Biodiversity Literature Repository
Published December 28, 2023 | Version v1
Taxonomic treatment Open

Culex (Culex) univittatus Theobald 1901

Creators

  • 1. Centre for Environmental Research and Studies, Jazan University, P. O. Box 2095, Jazan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia dawaha @ hotmail. co. uk; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0001 - 5642 - 7247
  • 2. Department of Biology, College of Science, King Khalid University, PO Box 9004, Abha- 61413, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia mohd _ robiya @ hotmail. com; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 3323 - 3623
  • 3. Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India entosaif @ rediffmail. com; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 6211 - 2345
  • 4. National Museum of Wales, Department of Natural Sciences, Entomology Section, Cardiff, CF 10 3 NP, UK James. Turner @ museumwales. ac. uk; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0003 - 2411 - 7396
  • 5. Research Center of Health and Environment, School of Health, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran; Department of Medical Parasitology, Mycology and Entomology, School of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran azari @ gums. ac. ir; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 9370 - 9638 * Corresponding author: azari @ gums. ac. ir

Description

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).

Notes

Published as part of 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, pp. 1-76 in Zootaxa 5394 (1) on page 43, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5394.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/10438079

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Linked records

Additional details

Identifiers

URL
http://treatment.plazi.org/id/03D45C5614030F78178C872DFC40A08D

Cites
Figure: 10.5281/zenodo.10438211 (DOI)
Is part of
Journal article: 10.11646/zootaxa.5394.1.1 (DOI)
Journal article: http://zenodo.org/record/10438079 (URL)
Journal article: http://publication.plazi.org/id/FFED242E14290F52171B835CFFB2A745 (URL)
Journal article: http://zoobank.org/6D86633F-0167-414D-B511-550BCBE578CD (URL)
Is source of
https://biodiversitypmc.sibils.org/collections/plazi/03D45C5614030F78178C872DFC40A08D (URL)
https://www.gbif.org/species/220430020 (URL)
https://www.checklistbank.org/dataset/283939/taxon/03D45C5614030F78178C872DFC40A08D.taxon (URL)

Biodiversity

Family
Culicidae
Genus
Culex
Kingdom
Animalia
Order
Diptera
Phylum
Arthropoda
Scientific name authorship
Theobald
Species
univittatus
Taxon rank
species
Taxonomic concept label
Culex (Culex) univittatus Theobald, 1901 sec. Dawah, Abdullah, Ahmad, Turner & Azari-Hamidian, 2023

References

  • Theobald, F. V. (1901 b) A Monograph of the Culicidae or Mosquitoes. Vol. 2. British Museum (Natural History), London, viii + 391 pp.
  • Harbach, R. E. (1988) The mosquitoes of the subgenus Culex in southwestern Asia and Egypt (Diptera: Culicidae). Contributions of the American Entomological Institute, 24 (1), vi + 1 - 236.
  • Harbach, R. E. (1985) Pictorial keys to the genera of mosquitoes, subgenera of Culex and the species of Culex (Culex) occurring in southwestern Asia and Egypt, with note on the subgeneric placement of Culex deserticola (Diptera: Culicidae). Mosquito Systematics, 17 (2), 83 - 107.
  • Harbach, R. E. (1999) The identity of Culex perexiguus Theobald versus Cx. univittatus Theobald in southern Europe. European Mosquito Bulletin, 4, 7.
  • Jupp, P. G. & Harbach, R. E. (1990) Crossmating and morphological studies of Culex neavei and Culex perexiguus (Diptera: Culicidae) to elucidate their taxonomic status. Mosquito Systematics, 22 (1), 1 - 10.
  • Alahmed, M. A., Al Kuriji, M. A., Kheir, S. M. Alahmedi, S. A., Al Hatabbi, M. J. & Al Gashmari, M. A. M. (2009) Mosquito fauna (Diptera: Culicidae) and seasonal activity in Makkah Al Mukarramah Region, Saudi Arabia. Journal of the Egyptian Society of Parasitology, 39 (3), 991 - 1013.
  • Alahmed, A. M., Munawar, K., Khalil, S. M. S. & Harbach, R. E. (2019) Assessment and an updated list of the mosquitoes of Saudi Arabia. Parasites & Vectors, 12, 356. https: // doi. org / 10.1186 / s 13071 - 019 - 3579 - 4
  • Azari-Hamidian, S. & Harbach, R. E. (2009) Keys to the adult females and fourth-instar larvae of the mosquitoes of Iran (Diptera: Culicidae). Zootaxa, 2078 (1), 1 - 33. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 2078.1.1
  • Senevet, G., Andarelli, L. & Lieutand A. (1957) A propos de Culex univittatus Theob. [in French]. Archives de l'institut Pasteur d'Algerie. Institut Pasteur d'Algerie, 35 (1), 52 - 53.
  • Abdel-Malek, A. (1960) The culicine mosquitoes of the northern region of the United Arab Republic. Bulletin de la Societe entomologique d'Egypte, 44, 111 - 128.
  • Rueda, L. M., Pecor, J. E., Lowen, R. G. & Carder, M. (2008) New record and updated checklists of the mosquitoes of Afghanistan and Iraq. Journal of Vector Ecology, 33 (2), 397 - 402. https: // doi. org / 10.3376 / 1081 - 1710 - 33.2.397
  • Margalit, J. & Tahori, A. S. (1974) An annotated list of mosquitoes in Israel. Israel Journal of Entomology, 9, 77 - 91.
  • Service, M. W. (1986) The biologies of Aedes caspius (Pallas) and Culex quinquefasciatus Say (Diptera: Culicidae) in Dubai. International Journal of Tropical Insect Science, 7, 11 - 18. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / S 1742758400003039
  • Al-Houty, W. (1997) Chacklist of the insect fauna of Kuwait. Kuwait Journal of Science and Engineering, 24, 145 - 162.
  • Trari, B., Dakki, M. & Harbach, R. E. (2017) An updated checklist of the Culicidae (Diptera) of Morocco, with notes on species of historical and current medical importance. Journal of Vector Ecology, 42 (1), 94 - 104. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / jvec. 12243
  • Mattingly, P. F. & Knight, K. L. (1956) The mosquitoes of Arabia. I. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Entomology, 4 (3), 91 - 141.
  • Kardousha, M. M. (2015) Additional records of vector mosquito diversity collected from Al Khor district of North-estern Qatar. Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Disease, 5 (10), 804 - 807. https: // doi. org / 10.1016 / S 2222 - 1808 (15) 60944 - 6
  • Tabbabi, A., Rhim, A. & Daaboub, J. (2017) Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in Tunisia, with particular attention to proven and potential vectors: A review. Journal of Tropical Diseases, 5 (5), 1000249. https: // doi. org / 10.4172 / 2329 - 891 X. 1000249
  • Weinbren, M. P., Kokernot, R. H. & Smithburn, K. C. (1956) Strains of Sindbis-like virus isolated from culicine mosquitoes in the Union of South Africa. I. Isolation and properties. South African Medical Journal, 30 (27), 631 - 536.
  • McIntosh, B. M., Jupp, P. G., Dickinson, D. B., McGillivray, G. M. & Sweetnam, J. (1967) Ecological studies on Sindbis and West Nile viruses in South Africa. I. Viral activity as revealed by infection of mosquitoes and sentinel fowls. South African Journal of Medical Sciences, 32 (1), 1 - 14.
  • Schaffner, F., Bansal, D., Mardini, K., Al-Marri, S. A. Al-Thani, M. H. J., Al-Romaihi, H., Sultan, A. A., Al-Hajri, M. & Farag, E. A. B. A. (2021) Vectors and vector-borne diseases in Qatar: current status, key challenges and future prospects. Journal of the European Mosquito Control Association, 39 (1), 3 - 13. https: // doi. org / 10.52004 / JEMCA 2021. x 001
  • Worth, C. B. & de Meillon, B. (1960) Culicine mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) recorded from the province of Mocambique (Portuguese East Africa) and their relationship to arthropod-borne viruses. Annals of the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Lisbon, 17, 231 - 256.
  • Jupp, P. G. (1971) The taxonomic status of Culex (Culex) univittatus Theobald (Diptera: Culicidae) in South Africa. Journal of Entomological Society of Southern Africa, 34 (2), 339 - 357. [https: // hdl. handle. net / 10520 / AJA 00128789 _ 2966]
  • McIntosh, B. M., Jupp, P. G., dos Santos, I. & Meenehan, G. M. (1976) Epidermic of West Nile and Sindbis viruses in South Africa with Culex (Culex) univittatus Theobald as vector. South Africa Journal of Science, 72 (10), 295 - 300.
  • Nikolay, B., Diallo, M., Boye, C. S. B. & Sall, A. A. (2011) Usutu virus in Africa. Vector-borne and Zoonotic Diseases, 11 (11), 1417 - 1423. https: // doi. org / 10.1089 / vbz. 2011.0631
  • Simsaa, M. A. A., Harbach, R. E., Almalik, A. M. A., Ahmed, E. M., Eisa, A. A., Mohamed, A. H. & Azrag, R. S. (2021) Culex mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) recorded along the Nile River in central and northern Sudan, with a key for the identification of all species of the genus known to occur in the country. Zootaxa, 4963 (3), 401 - 411. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 4963.3.1
  • Tantely, M. L., Le Goff, G., Boyer, S. & Fontenille, D. (2016) An updated checklist of mosquito species (Diptera: Culicidae) from Madagascar. Parasite, 23, 20. https: // doi. org / 10.1051 / parasite / 2016018
  • Wilkerson, R. C., Linton, Y. - M. & Strickman, D. A. (2021) Mosquitoes of the world. Vols 1 and 2. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltomore, Maryland, 1308 pp. https: // doi. org / 10.1186 / s 13071 - 021 - 04848 - 6