Biosci. Biotech. Res. Comm. Vol. ١ ( ١ ), ١٩-٢٤(٢٠٠٨) Studies on Identification and Population Dynamics of Anopheline Mosquitoes from Jeddah Province of Saudi Arabia. Khalid Al-Ghamdi , Masroor Alikhan *; Jazem Mahyoub and Z.I. Afifi Department of Biological Sciences, King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah. KSA *Mosquito Taxonomist , Al-Amana, Jeddah,KSA. Abstract: Anopheline mosquito species have been studied in Jeddah Province of Saudi Arabia. ١١ species have been found to be prevalent in this region. The identification of the species has been based on the morphological characters of the adult mosquitoes. The population dynamics of the species with reference to optimum temperature and humidity has been discussed along with the ratio of male and female catches . Introduction: Several reports are available on the Anopheline mosquitoes of Saudi Arabia, but there is no authentic record available on the anopheles species of Jeddah province, which occupies a unique place in Saudi Arabia being a gate way of Mecca. It is located on the middle of the Red Sea coast and is the major urban center of western part of the country. It is located at the junction of latitude ٢١ ٠ ٢٩ north and longitude ٣٩ ٠ ٠٧ east having a population of ٤٫٥ million . The climate of this region is warm like other cities of the country. Summer temperatures are considered very hot and break the +٤٠ ٠ C mark and in winter +٢٥ ٠ C. Rain is very scanty and only a small amount of it falls usually in winter. Air pollution remains high, particularly on the hot summer days. Being a coastal city Jeddah suffers from high humidity on most days of the year, especially during summer. During winter humidity generally remains low. There is no proper sewage disposal network, growth of slums is rapid, and is widely exposed to many different cultures through large number of pilgrims visiting Mecca via Jeddah through out the year. All the above conditions play a very important role on the density of Anopheline mosquitoes. Detailed reports of Saudi Arabian mosquito species are available in the literature, (Knight & Mattingly (١٩٥٦); Beccari (١٩٧١); Zaher (١٩٧٣ ); Buttiker (١٩٨١); Glick ( ١٩٩٢); Abdullah & Mardan (١٩٩٥). All these workers have recorded many anopheles species of different regions of Saudi Arabia, but none of them have studied the fauna of Jeddah province in particular. Buttikar (١٩٨١) has mentioned that all inspections were negative for anopheline mosquitoes from Jeddah. Abdullah & Mardan (١٩٩٥) reported only ٤ species from South West region of Saudi Arabia, but have not included Jeddah in their report. Knight & Mattingly (١٩٥٦) have reported some ١٣ species from Saudi Arabia. They have identified Anopheles coustani Str. A. coustani var. tenebrosus, A. cinereus, A.culicifacies, A. culicifacies ssp. Adenensis, A. d’thali, A. fluviatilis. A. gambiae, A. multicolor, A. pharoensis, A.pretoriensis, A. pulcherrimus, A. rhodesiensis ssp.rupicolus, A. sergenti, A. stphensi, A. turkhudi , but have mentioned that only ٤ species viz , Anopheles d’ thali, A.gambiae , A. multicolor and A. sergenti are found in Jeddah province. Recently there have been reports of Malaria from this region of the country, hence there was an urgent need to study the Anopheline species of Jeddah province, As per the bulletin of the Ministry of health of Saudi Arabia, during ٢٠٠٦ there were ٣٩ cases of Plasmodium falciparum infections and ٣١ cases of Plasmodium vivax infections ,and during ٢٠٠٧ some ٧٥ cases of P.falciparum and ٣٢ cases of P.vivax were recorded by the Ministry of Health in Jeddah province. The risk of mosquito- born diseases depends on the population size of the mosquitoes and incidence rate of disease. Collecting the information on adult mosquito populations and their identification is thus important for the proper control and to predict the disease outbreak. Looking into the importance of malaria the present work was undertaken to identify the potential of Anopheline malaria vectors. The present study has identified some ١١ species of Anopheles mosquito from Jeddah province. Material and Methods: To study the different species of Anopheline mosquito of Jeddah province adult, a thorough sampling was carried out by installing the light traps in various habitats of the province. Powered aspirators were also used to collect the mosquitoes from their resting areas. Trapping of adult mosquitoes gives information on the relative population size and the species composition. The Black hole light traps were used during the whole study to maintain the uniformity of the collection. ٥٠٤ different spots were carefully chosen from the