The species composition of mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in the Mahshahr district, Khuzestan province, southwest of Iran

There is very little information about the mosquito fauna of mahshahr district. the present study gives anoverview of data on the species composition and distribution of mosquitoes in the mahshahr district,khuzestan province, southwest of iran. in order to study the mosquito fauna, the samples were collectedfrom may to november 2012 using dipping and total catch methods from seven villages (soveireh, hadid,seraimeh, meksar, hashtcheh, seyed yahya and maghtoo sofla) and two towns (shahrake meghdad andshahrake dastgheib) in the mahshahr district. totally 1023 adult mosquitoes and 1618 larvae werecollected and four genera along with eleven species of culicidae were identified, including; anophelesstephensi liston, an. superpictus grassi, an. dthali patton, an. pulcherrimus theobald, culex pusillusmacquart, cx. quinquefasciatus say, cx. sitaiticus kirkpatrick, cx. theileri theobald, cx. perexiguustheobald, ochlerotatus caspius pallas and culiseta longiareolata macquart. there are some potential orproven vectors of different human and domesticated animal pathogens in mahshahr district. the ecology ofthese species of mahshahr district need to be investigated extensively.