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 ) pretoriensis ( Theobald, 1903 ) ( Fig. 11 ) Type locality. Pretoria , South Africa . Distribution. This species is widespread in the Afrotropical Region ( Wilkerson et al. 2021 ). In the Middle East, it occurs in Saudi Arabia and Yemen ( Knight 1953b ; Kouznetsov 1976 ; White 1980 ; Zahar 1985 ; Glick 1992 ; van Harten & Wagener 1994 ; Abdoon & Alshahrani 2003 ; El Khereji et al. 2007 ; Al Ahmad et al. 2011; Alahmed 2012 ; Al-Eryani et al. 2016 ; Tantely et al. 2016 ; Lemine et al. 2017 ; Irish 2020 ; Wilkerson et al. 2021 ). It was recorded for the first time in Saudi Arabia by Zahar (1985) . Remarks. Gillies & de Meillon (1968) noted some variation in the palpal bands and wing ornamentation. Campos et al. (2023) studied the population genetics of An. pretoriensis in Grande Comore Island and continental Africa for the first time. Medical importance. Anopheles pretoriensis is involved in the transmission of Nigerian and Wesselsbron viruses in Senegal ( Adam & Digoutte 2005 ) and Plasmodium species (oocysts or sporozoites) in French Equatotial Africa ( World Health Organization 1951 ; Tantely et al . 2016 ).