Mosquito vectors survey in the AL-Ahsaa district of eastern Saudi Arabia
1Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia
2Biology Department, Faculty of Science, King Faisal University, P.O. Box 380, Al-Ahsaa 31982, Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia
3Centre of Excellence in Biotechnology Research, Faculty of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh
11451, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
4Centre for Applied Entomology and Parasitology, School of Life Sciences, Keele University, Staffordshire ST5 5BG,
UK.
5Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Minia University, Egypt
6Zoology Department, Aswan Faculty of Science, South Valley University, Aswan 81528, Egypt
7Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt
Abstract
The present study aimed to identify the mosquito vectors distributed throughout AL-Ahsaa district situated in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia. Mosquito larvae were collected seasonally for one year (October 2009 to September 2010) from different breeding sites in seven rural areas utilizing long aquatic nets. Salinity and pH of these breeding sites were also measured seasonally. The survey revealed the presence of five mosquito species, Aedes caspius Pallas (Diptera: Culicidae), Anopheles multicolor Cambouliu, Culex perexiguus Theobald, Culex pipiens L., and Culex pusillus Macquart, representing three genera; four of them (Ae. caspius, An. multicolor, Cx. perexiguus, and Cx. pipiens) are important vectors of diseases. Ae. caspius is the most common vector followed by Cx. pipiens and then Cx. perexiguus. Mosquitoes in AL-Ahsaa are prevalent in both winter and spring seasons, rarely encountered in summer, and are found in moderation during the autumn months. These results are compared with results of other regions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Keywords: Aedes caspius, Anopheles multicolor, Culex perexiguus, Culex pipiens, Culex pusillus, Mosquito larvae, seasonal abundance
Correspondence:
a amahmedkeele@yahoo.co.uk,
b shaalanessam@yahoo.com,
c mourad_aboulsoud@yahoo.com,
d f.tripet@biol.keele.ac.uk,
e kedhairy@ksu.edu.sa, *Corresponding author
Editor: Thomas Scott was Editor of this paper.
Received: 11 February 2011 | Accepted: 20 April 2011 | Published: 31 December 2011
Copyright: This is an open access paper. We use the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license that permits unrestricted use, provided that the paper is properly attributed.
ISSN: 1536-2442 | Volume 11, Number 176
Ahmed AM, Shaalan EA, Aboul-Soud MAM, Tripet F, Al-Khedhairy AA. 2011. Mosquito vectors survey in the AL-Ahsaa district of eastern Saudi Arabia. Journal of Insect Science 11:176 available online: insectscience.org/11.176
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