J Arthropod-Borne Dis, 2012, 6(1): 54–61 A Saghafipour et al.: Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) … Original Article Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) Fauna of Qom Province, Iran A Saghafipour 1, *MR Abai 2, B Farzinnia 3, R Nafar 1, H Ladonni 2, *S Azari-Hamidian 4 1Qom Provincial Health Center, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran 2Department of Medical Entomology and Vector Control, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 3School of Public Health, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran 4School of Health, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran (Received 18 Sep 2010; accepted 8 Jun 2011) Abstract Background: There is very little information about the mosquito fauna of Qom Province, central Iran. By now only three species; Anopheles claviger, An. multicolor, and An. superpictus have been reported in the province. To study mosquito fauna and providing a primary checklist, an investigation was carried out on a collection of mosquitoes in this province. Methods: To study the mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) fauna, larval collections were carried out from different habitats on 19 occasions using the standard dipping technique during spring and summer 2008 and 2009. Results: In total, 371 mosquito larvae were collected and morphologically identified including 14 species representing four genera: Anopheles claviger, An. marteri, An. turkhudi, An. superpictus, Culex arbieeni, Cx. hortensis, Cx. mimeticus, Cx. modestus, Cx. pipiens, Cx. territans, Cx. theileri, Culiseta longiareolata, Cs. subochrea, and Ochlerotatus caspius s.l. All species except for An. claviger and An. superpictus were collected for the first time in the province. All larvae were found in natural habitats. The association occasions and percentages of the mosquito larvae in Qom Province were discussed. Conclusion: There are some potential or proven vectors of different human and domesticated animal pathogens in Qom Province. The ecology of these species and the unstudied areas of Qom Province need to be investigated extensively. Keywords: Anopheles, Culex, Culiseta, Ochlerotatus, larvae, taxonomy Introduction According to the most recent classifica- tion of mosquitoes, the family Culicidae (Diptera) includes two subfamilies, 11 tribes, 111 genera, and 3523 species in the world fauna and the genus Anopheles Meigen in- cludes seven subgenera and at least 464 species (Harbach 2007). The mosquito fauna of Iran includes seven genera, 64 species, and 3 subspecies and the records of 12 other species need to be verified (Azari-Hamidian 2007). Recently, Oshaghi et al. (2008) intro- duced An. superpictus Grassi as a species complex including three genotypes X, Y, and Z and Djadid et al. (2009) introduced a new species of the Hyrcanus Group based on PCR techniques in the country. Malaria is the most important mosquito-borne disease in Iran and seven species of the genus Ano- pheles: An. culicifacies Giles s.l., An. dthali Patton, An. fluviatilis James s.l., An. macu- lipennis Meigen s.l., An. sacharovi Favre, An. stephensi Liston, and An. superpictus are known its proven vectors in Iran, also An. pulcherrimus Theobald is mentioned a sus- pected vector of malaria in southeastern Iran (Edrissian 2006). Eshghy (1977) observed Plasmodium oocysts in An. multicolor Cam- bouliu, but sporozoites have not been found *Corresponding authors: Dr Shahyad Azari-Hamidian, E-mail: azari@gums.ac.ir, Mohammad Reza Abai, E-mail: abaimr@tums.ac.ir 54 J Arthropod-Borne Dis, 2012, 6(1): 54–61 A Saghafipour et al.: Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) … in this species and it is not considered a vector in the country. Recently, Djadid et al. (2009) reported An. hyrcanus (Pallas) a potential vector of P. falciparum based on nested PCR in Guilan Province. West Nile and Sindbis viruses have been reported in Iran (Naficy and Saidi 1970). There is no information about their vectors in the country. The possibility of some mosquito-borne ar- boviral outbreaks like Japanese encephalitis and Rift Valley fever in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, including Iran, is noteworthy (WHO 2004). There are some doubtful old records of Dengue fever in Iran (Foote and Cook 1959), however there is no formal recent record of this virus in the country. The mosquito-borne filariae: Dirofi- laria (dirofilariasis) and Setaria (setariasis) (Spirurida: Onchocercidae) have been re- ported in Iran (Eslami 1997, Azari-Hamidian et al. 2007). Anopheles maculipennis and Culex theileri Theobald are known vectors of Setaria labiatopapillosa and Dirofilaria immitis respectively, in Ardebil Province, northwestern Iran (Azari-Hamidian et al. 2009). In 1996, Qom Province was formally separated from Tehran Province. There is very little information about the mosquito fauna of Qom Province. Macan (1950) found An. multicolor larvae in “Darya-i-Namak” (Namak Lake, Salt Lake, or Qom Lake) (Fig. 1) and showed this species and An. superpictus around Qom in the distributional maps. In the document of the former Insti- tute of Malariology and Parasitology (pre- sent National Institute of Health Research) (1953) An. multicolor was recorded around Qom. Saebi (1987) showed the occurrence of An. superpictus in Qom in the distributional map of the species. Recently, Farzinnia et al. (2010) reported An. claviger (Meigen) for the first time in the province. As the authors know there is no other documented informa- tion on the mosquitoes of Qom Province. To study mosquito fauna and provid- ing a primary checklist, an investigation was carried out on a collection of mosquitoes in Qom Province. Materials and Methods Study area Qom Province is bounded by Tehran Province in the north, Isfahan Province in the south, Semnan Province in the east, and Markazi Province in the west with an area of approximately 11240 square km (0.68% total area of Iran). The center of the province, Qom City, is almost 880 m above sea level. The province with arid climate has about 150 mm annual rainfall and is located between 34o09'–35o11' N latitude and 50o06'–51o58' E longitude and formally includes one county (Qom) and five districts: Jafarabad, Kahak, Khalajestan, Markazi (Qom), and Salafchegan (Fig. 1). Specimen and data collection In the present faunistic and cross-sec- tional investigation, larvae were collected from different habitats using the standard dipping technique (350 ml dipper) in nine stations (localities) of four districts; Kahak District (Emamzadeh Esmail and Dastgerd), Khalajestan District (Ahmadabad, Agholak, Dastjerd, and Ghahan), Markazi District (Ghom- rood), and Salafchegan District (Ghal-e-cham and Rahjerd) on 19 occasions during spring and summer 2008 and 2009. The larvae were preserved in lactophenol and the microscope slides of the preserved larvae were prepared using de Faure’s medium. The third- and fourth-instar larvae were identified using the keys of Shahgudian (1960), Zaim and Cranston (1986), Harbach (1988), and Azari- Hamidian and Harbach (2009). The mosquito name abbreviations follow Reinert (2009). Results In total, 371 mosquito larvae were peri- odically collected from four districts of Qom 55 J Arthropod-Borne Dis, 2012, 6(1): 54–61 A Saghafipour et al.: Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) … Province during 2008–2009 and morpho- logically identified including 14 species rep- resenting four genera: An. claviger, An. marteri Senevet and Prunnelle, An. turkhudi Liston, An. superpictus, Culex arbieeni Sa- lem, Cx. hortensis Ficalbi, Cx. mimeticus Noe, Cx. modestus Ficalbi, Cx. pipiens Lin- naeus, Cx. territans Walker, Cx. theileri, Cu- liseta longiareolata (Macquart), Cs. subo- chrea (Edwards), and Ochlerotatus caspius (Pallas) s.l. (Table 1). The association occa- sions of the mosquito larvae in the province are shown in Table 2. The association per- centages of the mosquito larvae in Qom Province are shown in Table 3. All larvae were collected from natural habitats. Fig. 1. Map of Iran, highlighting the position of Qom Province and its five districts: 1. Jafarabad, 2. Kahak, 3. Khalajestan, 4. Markazi, and 5. Salafchegan ( Qom City) Table 1. The distribution and composition of the mosquito larvae in nine localities of Qom Province, Iran, Spring– Summer 2008–2009 Species Locality n % A gholak A hm adabad D astgerd D astjerd E m am zadeh E sm ail G hahan G hal-e- cham G hom rood R ahjerd An. claviger 66 135 - 1 - 16 10 - - 228 61.5 An. marteri - - - - - - - - 2 2 0.5 An. superpictus - - 12 - 20 - - - - 32 8.6 An. turkhudi - - 7 - - - - - - 7 1.9 Cx. arbieeni - - 1 - - - - - - 1 0.3 Cx. hortensis 3 2 1 - - 3 - - - 9 2.4 Cx. mimeticus - - 9 - 1 1 - - - 11 3.0 Cx. modestus - - - - - - - 6 - 6 1.6 Cx. pipiens - - - - - - - 13 - 13 3.5 Cx. territans 7 3 - - - - - - - 10 2.7 Cx. theileri - 1 - - 4 - - 1 - 6 1.6 Cs. longiareolata - 34 - - - 5 - - 2 41 11.1 Cs. subochrea 1 - - - - - - 1 - 2 0.5 Oc. caspius s.l. - - - - - - - 3 - 3 0.8 Total 77 175 30 1 25 25 10 24 4 371 100 N Hoz-e-Soltan Lake Qom Lake 56 J Arthropod-Borne Dis, 2012, 6(1): 54–61 A Saghafipour et al.: Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) … Table 2. The association occasions of the mosquito larvae in Qom Province, Iran, Spring–Summer 2008–2009 Species T otal occasions A n. claviger A n. m arteri A n. superpictus A n. turkhudi C x. arbieeni C x. hortensis C x. m im eticus C x. m odestus C x. pipiens C x. territans C x. theileri C s. longiareolata C s. subochrea O c. caspius s.l. An. claviger 14 - - - - - 4 1 - - 2 1 3 1 - An. marteri 1 - - - - - - - - - - - 1 - - An. superpictus 2 - - - 1 1 1 2 - - - 1 - - - An. turkhudi 1 - - 1 - 1 1 1 - - - - - - - Cx. arbieeni 1 - - 1 1 - 1 1 - - - - - - - Cx. hortensis 5 4 - 1 1 1 - 2 - - 1 1 2 1 - Cx. mimeticus 3 1 - 2 1 1 2 - - - - 1 1 - - Cx. modestus 1 - - - - - - - - 1 - 1 - 1 1 Cx. pipiens 1 - - - - - - - 1 - - 1 - 1 1 Cx. territans 2 2 - - - - 1 - - - - - 1 1 - Cx. theileri 3 1 - 1 - - 1 1 1 1 - - - 1 1 Cs. longiareolata 4 3 1 - - - 2 1 - - 1 - - - - Cs. subochrea 2 1 - - - - 1 - 1 1 1 1 - - 1 Oc. caspius s.l. 1 - - - - - - - 1 1 - 1 - 1 - Table 3. The association percentages of the mosquito larvae in Qom Province, Iran, Spring–Summer 2008–2009 Species association Abundance n (%) An. claviger Cx. hortensis, Cx. theileri 89 (39.0) Alone 67 (29.4) Cx. hortensis, Cx. territans, Cs. subochrea 59 (25.9) Cx. territans, Cs. longiareolata 5 (2.2) Cx. hortensis, Cx. mimeticus, Cs. longiareolata 5 (2.2) Cx. hortensis, Cs. longiareolata 3 (1.3) Total 228 (100) An. marteri Cs. longiareolata 2 (100) An. superpictus Cx. mimeticus, Cx. theileri 20 (62.5) An. turkhudi, Cx. arbieeni, Cx. hortensis, Cx. mimeticus 12 (37.5) Total 32 (100) An. turkhudi An. superpictus, Cx. arbieeni, Cx. hortensis, Cx. mimeticus 7 (100) Cx. arbieeni An. superpictus, An. turkhudi, Cx. hortensis, Cx. mimeticus 1 (100) Cx. hortensis An. claviger, Cx. territans, Cs. subochrea 3 (33.4) An. claviger, Cx. mimeticus, Cs. longiareolata 3 (33.3) An. superpictus, An. turkhudi, Cx. arbieeni, Cx. mimeticus 1 (11.1) An. claviger, Cs. longiareolata 1 (11.1) An. claviger, Cx. theileri 1 (11.1) Total 9 (100) Cx. mimeticus An. superpictus, An. turkhudi, Cx. arbieeni, Cx. hortensis 9 (81.8) 57 J Arthropod-Borne Dis, 2012, 6(1): 54–61 A Saghafipour et al.: Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) … An. claviger, Cx. hortensis , Cs. longiareolata 1 (9.1) An. superpictus, Cx. theileri 1 (9.1) Total 11 (100) Cx. modestus Cx. pipiens, Cx. theileri, Cs. subochrea, Oc. caspius s.l. 6 (100) Cx. pipiens Cx. modestus, Cx. theileri, Cs. subochrea, Oc. caspius s.l. 13 (100) Cx. territans An. claviger, Cx. hortensis, Cs. subochrea 7 (70) An. claviger, Cs. longiareolata 3 (30) Total 10 (100) Cx. theileri An. superpictus, Cx. mimeticus 4 (66.6) Cx. modestus, Cx. pipiens, Cs. subochrea, Oc. caspius s.l. 1 (16.7) An. claviger, Cx. hortensis 1 (16.7) Total 6 (100) Cs. longiareolata An. claviger, Cx. hortensis 26 (63.4) An. claviger, Cx. territans 8 (19.5) An. claviger, Cx. hortensis, Cx. mimeticus 5 (12.2) An. marteri 2 (4.9) Total 41 (100) Cs. subochrea An. claviger, Cx. hortensis, Cx. territans 1 (100) Cx. modestus, Cx. pipiens, Cx. theileri, Oc. caspius s.l. 1 (100) Total 2 (100) Oc. caspius s.l. Cx. modestus, Cx. pipiens, Cx. theileri, Cs. subochrea 3 (100) Discussion In the present study, 371 mosquito larvae representing 14 species in four genera were collected from Qom Province. All species except for An. claviger and An. superpictus were collected for the first time in the prov- ince. Anopheles multicolor, which was re- corded in Qom Province before (Macan 1950, Institute of Malariology and Parasitol- ogy 1953), was not found among the sam- ples of this investigation. Among the collected species, An. super- pictus, Cx. hortensis, Cx. mimeticus, Cx. pipiens, Cx. theileri, Cs. longiareolata, Cs. subochrea, and Oc. caspius s.l. are wide- spread in Iran (Institute of Malariology and Parasitology 1953, Gaffary 1954, Saebi 1987, Zaim 1987, Abai et al. 2007). Anophe- les claviger was found almost everywhere in Iran, including 21 provinces (out of total 31), except for the eastern and southeastern areas of the country. Anopheles marteri was col- lected from 15 provinces other than those of eastern and southeastern Iran. Anopheles turkhudi is found in 15 provinces in central plateau, western, southwestern, eastern, south- eastern, and southern Iran. Anopheles multi- color, which was not found in this investi- gation, however recorded around Qom be- fore, was recorded in 14 provinces in central plateau, northeastern, eastern, southeastern, and southern Iran (Institute of Malariology and Parasitology 1953, Gaffary 1954, Saebi 58 J Arthropod-Borne Dis, 2012, 6(1): 54–61 A Saghafipour et al.: Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) … 1987). Culex arbieeni was recorded in 9 provinces before: former Khorasan, Loristan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Yazd, Kerman, Sistan and Baluchistan, Hormozgan, Fars, and Bushehr (Zaim 1987). Culex modestus was collected from 6 provinces: Isfahan, East Azerbaijan, West Azerbaijan, Hormozgan (Zaim 1987), Ardebil (Azari-Hamidian et al. 2009), and North Khorasan (Azari-Hamidian et al. 2011). Culex territans was found in 6 provinces: Guilan, Kurdistan, former Khorasan, Isfahan, Hormozgan (Zaim 1987), and Sistan and Baluchistan (Lotfi 1973). Among the species, only An. turkhudi and Cx. arbieeni are not found in northern Iran including northwestern areas (West Azerbaijan, East Azerbaijan, and Ardebil Provinces), the Cas- pian Sea littoral (Guilan, Mazandaran, and Golestan Provinces), and northeastern areas (North Khorasan Province and northern Razavi Khorasan Province) (Institute of Ma- lariology and Parasitology 1953, Gaffary 1954, Saebi 1987, Zaim 1987). Oshaghi et al. (2008) reported three geno- types named X, Y, and Z within An. su- perpictus in Iran based on the second Inter- nal Transcribed Spacer (ITS2) and Cyto- chrome c Oxidase subunit I (COI) sequence data. Genotype X was found in all parts of the country, including Qom Province, except for the southeastern areas. Genotypes Y and Z were only found in southeastern Iran including Kahnooj of southern Kerman Prov- ince and Sistan and Baluchistan Province. Only two larvae, one the third instar, of Cs. subochrea were found in the present investigation (Table 1). Two close and rare species Cs. subochrea and Cs. annulata (Schrank) are very similar in larval stage; however they are easily distinguishable as adult. There is little information about taxon- omy and distribution of three close species Cs. alaskaensis (Ludlow), Cs. annulata, and Cs. subochrea in Iran (Azari-Hamidian and Harbach 2009). Among the species which were found in the present study, An. superpictus is malaria vector in Iran (Edrissian 2006). Culex theil- eri is known vector of the canine heart worm nematode in Ardebil Province (Azari-Hamidian et al. 2009). In addition, Cx. pipiens, Cx. theileri, and Oc. caspius s.l. are known as the potential or proven vectors of different human and domesticated animal pathogens in different areas of the world (Gutsevich et al. 1974, Harbach 1988). The ecology of medi- cally important species and the unstudied areas of Qom Province need to be investi- gated extensively. Acknowledgements The authors are grateful to Dr A Akbari, Dr A Abbasi, F Abedi-Astaneh, Qom Pro- vincial Health Center, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, for their kind col- laborations. This study was financially sup- ported by the Institute of Public Health Re- search, Academic Pivot for Education and Research, Tehran University of Medical Sci- ences: project No.: 241.83.77. The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest. 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