144 Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association, 22(1):144–146, 2006 Copyright  2006 by the American Mosquito Control Association, Inc. SCIENTIFIC NOTE ANOPHELES PEDITAENIATUS (LEICESTER) NEW TO THE IRANIAN MOSQUITO FAUNA WITH NOTES ON ANOPHELES HYRCANUS GROUP IN IRAN S. AZARI-HAMIDIAN, 1 M. R. ABAI, 2 H. LADONNI, 2 H. VATANDOOST 2 AND K. AKBARZADEH 2 ABSTRACT. Anopheles peditaeniatus is reported for the first time in Iran. Species of the Hyrcanus Group previously reported in Iran, including An. hyrcanus, An. pseudopictus, and An. nigerrimus, are reviewed. KEY WORDS Anopheles peditaeniatus, Hyrcanus Group, Iran, Lesteri Subgroup, new record The genus Anopheles Meigen includes 6 subgen- era and at least 484 species (Harbach 2004). There are 29 species in the Hyrcanus Group (Harbach 2004, Rueda 2005). The group includes 3 species (Anopheles hyrcanus (Pallas), An. pseudopictus Grassi, and An. chodukini Martini) in the western Palaearctic region and other species occur in the Oriental and eastern Palaearctic regions (Ramsdale 2001). Previous studies showed that 3 species of the Hyrcanus Group, An. hyrcanus, An. pseudopictus, and An. nigerrimus Giles, are present in Iran (Dow 1953, Shahgudian 1960, Azari-Hamidian et al. 2002). Anopheles pseudopictus, with completely pale hindtarsomere 4 and completely dark hindtar- somere 5, has been reported in Golestan, Mazan- daran, and Guilan provinces in the Caspian Sea lit- toral of northern Iran (Fig. 1) (Dow 1953 [as a variety of An. hyrcanus], Minar 1974 [as an aber- ration of An. hyrcanus], Zaim et al. 1995, Azari- Hamidian et al. 2002). Also, the School of Public Health (SPH) and the Institute of Public Health Re- search (IPHR) of Tehran University of Medical Sci- ences (TUMS) reported this species as a subspecies or variety of An. hyrcanus in East and West Azer- baijan provinces in northwestern Iran (Fig. 1) (School of Public Health 1970). Anopheles hyrcan- us, with dark hindtarsomere 4, except at tip, and completely dark hindtarsomere 5, has been record- ed in Mazandaran and Guilan provinces in the Cas- pian Sea littoral and Ardebil Province in north- western Iran (Fig. 1) (Zaim et al. 1995, Yaghoobi-Ershadi et al. 2001, Azari-Hamidian et al. 2002). Christophers and Chad (1915) described mesopotamiae as a variety of An. sinensis Wiede- mann from Khorramshahr in Khuzistan Province of southwestern Iran (Fig. 1). [The exact type locality had not been mentioned in the original paper, but 1 School of Public Health, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, P.O. Box 3391, I.R. Iran. 2 Department of Medical Entomology and Vector Con- trol, School of Public Health and Institute of Public Health Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, I.R. Iran. Dow (1953: 690) noted it.] It was considered a syn- onym of An. hyrcanus (Ramsdale 2001). Also Ma- can (1950) recorded An. hyrcanus in Masjid-i-Su- laiman of Khuzistan Province (Fig. 1). Anopheles pseudopictus is much more abundant than An. hyr- canus in northern Iran, where they occur sympat- rically (Zaim et al. 1995, Azari-Hamidian et al. 2002), thus Dow (1953) and Minar (1974) found only An. pseudopictus in this area of Iran. Shah- gudian (1960) recorded An. nigerrimus, with a bas- al pale band on hindtarsomere 4, as a variety of An. hyrcanus, which was distributed around Shiraz in Fars Province and around Ahwaz in Khuzistan Province of southern and southwestern Iran (Fig. 1) (School of Public Health 1970). Abai et al. (2003) mentioned that populations of the Hyrcanus Group had different ecology and biology in different areas of Iran. Mosquito specimens in the Medical Arthropod Museum (SPH and IPHR, TUMS) were checked and 5 females of the Hyrcanus Group collected by M. R. Abai in Sistan and Baluchistan Province, southeastern Iran (Fig. 1), were observed. Two specimens were collected from Choutabad, Ghas- reghand, on animal (cow) bait on June 9, 1999, and the other 3 were collected from Boghan, Ghasreg- hand, on June 11, 1999, 2 on human bait and an- other on animal (cow) bait. They were identified as An. peditaeniatus (Leicester) using the keys of Har- rison and Scanlon (1975), Glick (1992), and Amer- asinghe et al. (2002). All specimens showed the following features: anterior margin of wings with 2 separate pale areas, hindtarsomeres 4 and 5 with basal pale bands and hindtarsomeres 3 and 4 with apical pale bands, humeral crossvein without scales, and remigium mostly paled-scaled (few dark scales nearly in the middle). This is the 1st record of An. peditaeniatus in Iran. Anopheles peditaeniatus belongs to the Lesteri Subgroup (Harbach 2004). Harrison and Scanlon (1975) described the female, male genitalia, larva, and pupa of An. peditaeniatus. Baimai et al. (1993) described its metaphase karyotype and Linley et al. (1995) described its egg using scanning electron