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 Culex ( Culex ) simpsoni Theobald, 1905 ( Fig. 36 ) Type locality. Transvaal , South Africa . Distribution. This species is widespread in the Afrotropical Region ( Wilkerson et al. 2021 ). In the Middle East and North Africa, it occurs in Morocco , Saudi Arabia and Yemen ( Edwards 1914 ; Lewis 1956 ; Knight 1953a ; Mattingly & Knight 1956 ; White 1980 ; Harbach 1985 , 1988 ; van Harten & Wagener 1994 ; Brunhes et al. 2000 ; Alahmed et al. 2010 ; Kheir et al. 2010 ; Al Ahmad et al. 2011; Alahmed 2012 ; Al Ashry et al. 2014 ; Tantely et al. 2016 ; Lemine et al. 2017 ; Trari et al. 2017 ; Simsaa et al. 2021 ; Wilkerson et al. 2021 ). It seems that the first record of the species in Saudi Arabia is attributable to Kheir et al. (2010) . Remarks . Alahmed et al . (2019) commented that the record of this species in Saudi Arabia is doubtful and requires confirmation since the identification was based on larvae and adults and not on the male genitalia, which provide the only reliable characters to distinguish this species from the closely related Cx . sinaiticus Kirkpatrick. Medical importance. Nothing is known about the vector potential of this species, but it is not likely to be of importance in disease transmission because it only rarely bites humans ( Mattingly & Brown 1955 ). Rift Valley fever virus was detected in a mixed batch of Culex species , which included Cx. simpsoni , in Madagascar ( Tantely et al. 2016 ).