First report of Culex (Lophoceraomyia) cinctellus in Sri Lanka: Evidence from morphological and molecular analysis

Objective: To confirm the presence of Culex (Cx.) (Lophoceraomyia) cinctellus in Sri Lanka using morphological and molecular evidence. Methods: From October 2019 to April 2020, mosquito surveillance was conducted fort-nightly in the Banduragoda Public Health Inspector area. Larvae were collected using standard siphoning methods, while adults were sampled using Cattle Baited Trap, Gravid Traps, Light Traps, Bird-Baited Traps, Dog Baited Traps, and diurnal human landing collections. Specimens were transported to the Entomology Laboratory at the Medical Research Institute for identification. Morphological identification was performed using standard taxonomic keys. Molecular confirmation was achieved through DNA sequencing of mosquito head and thoracic regions, followed by sequence analysis using NCBI BLAST and Geneious software (version 7.1.3). Results: Adults of Cx. cinctellus were identified in Bird-Baited Traps and human bait collections. Unique morphological characteristics, including well-developed pulvilli, wing vein 1A ending before the apex of cross vein mcu, basal transverse pale bands on abdominal terga, and two labial basal setae on the proboscis, confirmed species identity. Morphometric measurements included mean thoracic length (0.58±0.02) mm, thoracic width (0.63±0.02) mm, abdominal length (2.15±0.03) mm, abdominal width (0.61±0.01) mm, and wing length (2.91±0.02) mm. Molecular analysis corroborated the morphological identification, affirming the species as Cx. cinctellus . COI sequences of the collected specimen (452 bp) were confirmed as Cx. cinctellus for sequence identity by BLAST and BOLD analysis. These sequences were subsequently deposited in GenBank under the accession number OR225623.1. Conclusions: This study documents the first occurrence of Cx. cinctellus in Sri Lanka, highlighting the need to enhance entomological surveillance to monitor its dispersal and population dynamics.