Abstract

Objective: To report six species of female mosquitoes caught in CDC gravid traps for the first time in Qatar. Methods: Five traps were installed in Al-Khor community, north-eastern Qatar during the outbreak season between October-November, 2010 and February-March, 2011. Results: The collection revealed that the adult female mosquitoes encountered in the gravid traps were: Ochlerotatus caspius (Pallas 1771), Anopheles stephensi (Liston 1901), Culex quinquefasciatus (Say 1823), Culex pipiens biotype molestus (Forskal 1775) (Cx. pipiens molestus), Culex tritaeniorhynchus (Giles 1901) and Ochlerotatus dorsalis (Meigen 1830). Except Cx. pipiens molestus, which was previously recorded, the other five species are reported for the first time in Qatar. Among the collected adult females, Cx. pipiens molestus was the most abundant (67.2%), followed by Culex quinquefasciatus (30.2%). The other species were present in small numbers. All of the recorded species have been collected as larval stages in the previous studies except for Ochlerotatus dorsalis which is collected as adult stage for the first time in the current study. Conclusions: The collected species are of potential medical importance that threaten the northeastern area of Qatar. A surveillance program is urgently required to generate a database of mosquito species in the area.

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