An overview of the mosquitoes of Saudi Arabia (Diptera: Culicidae), with updated keys to the adult females Author Dawah, Hassan A. 0000-0001-5642-7247 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 dawaha@hotmail.co.uk Author Abdullah, Mohammed A. 0000-0002-3323-3623 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 mohd_robiya@hotmail.com Author Ahmad, Syed Kamran 0000-0002-6211-2345 Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India entosaif @ rediffmail. com; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 6211 - 2345 entosaif@rediffmail.com Author Turner, James 0000-0003-2411-7396 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 urner@museumwales.ac.uk Author Azari-Hamidian, Shahyad 0000-0002-9370-9638 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 azari@gums.ac.ir text Zootaxa 2023 2023-12-28 5394 1 1 76 https://mapress.com/zt/article/download/zootaxa.5394.1.1/52549 journal article 10.11646/zootaxa.5394.1.1 1175-5334 10438079 6D86633F-0167-414D-B511-550BCBE578CD Anopheles ( Cellia ) multicolor Cambouliu, 1902 ( Fig. 9 ) Type localitiy. Isthme de Suez , Egypt . Distribution. This species is found in the Afrotropical, Oriental and Palaearctic Regions ( Azari-Hamidian et al. 2019 ). In the Middle East and North Africa, it occurs in Algeria , Egypt , Iran , Iraq , Israel , Jordan , Libya , Morocco , Oman , Palestine , Qatar , Saudi Arabia , Syria , Tunisia and United Arab Emirates ( Mattingly & Knight 1956 ; Margalit & Tahori 1974 ; Harbach et al. 1989 ; Ramsdale 1990 ; Minář 1991 ; Glick 1992 ; Morsy et al. 1995 ; Amr et al. 1997 ; Al-Khalili et al. 2000 ; Brunhes et al. 2000 ; Abdoon & Alshahrani 2003 ; Rueda et al. 2008 ; Alahmed et al. 2009 ; Kheir et al. 2010 ; Al Ahmad et al. 2011; Alahmed 2012 ; Ammar et al. 2013 ; Shaalan et al. 2017 ; Tabbabi et al. 2017 ; Trari et al. 2017 ; Azari-Hamidian et al. 2019 ; Irish et al. 2020 ; Farag et al. 2021 ; Schaffner et al. 2021 ; Wilkerson et al. 2021 ). Anopheles multicolor was recorded for the first time in Saudi Arabia by Mattingly & Knight (1956) . Remarks. Gillies & de Meillon (1968) reported some morphological variation in adults, including the dark markings on the costa. Medical importance. Eshghy (1977) observed Plasmodium oocysts in An. multicolour , however sporozoites have not been found in this species and it is not considered a vector in Iran . It is suspected of playing a role in the transmission of malaria in Egypt ( Kenawy 1988 ). Anopheles multicolor played a significant role in malaria transmission in the south of Morocco ( Guy 1959 ) and Rift Valley fever virus in Egypt ( Gad et al . 1987 ; Wilkerson et al. 2021 ).