the family culicidae ( diptera ) comprises at least 3531 species representing 112 genera divided into two subfamilies , culicinae and anophelinae ( harbach 2013 ) . according to the newest checklist of iranian mosquitoes , 64 species representing seven genera occur in the country ( azari - hamidian 2007 ) . ( 2008 ) recently identified anopheles superpictus grassi as a complex of three genotypes ( x , y , and z ) . mosquito - borne diseases such as malaria , west nile , as well as dirofilariasis are a major public health threat in iran ( naficy and saidi 1970 , azari - hamidian et al . malaria cases in kurdistan province , western iran , increased from 1994 to 1996 ( 543 , 633 , and 236 , respectively ) , however , they dramatically decreased after that . there were no cases of malaria in 2009 , and just 2 and 3 cases in 2010 and 2011 , respectively . there are only three recent studies on mosquitoes in kurdistan province , including the faunistic investigation of anophelines by vahabi et al . ( 2013 ) studied fauna and ecology of mosquito larvae in the province . by now , 6 genera and 18 species of mosquitoes have been recorded in kurdistan province ( macan 1950 , lotfi 1973 , zaim 1987 , vahabi 2001 , moosa kazemi et al . seven species of anopheles have been found in the province ( macan 1950 , vahabi 2001 ) including an . zaim ( 1987 ) mentioned 6 species of culex linnaeus and 2 species of culiseta genus in the province : culex hortensis ficalbi , cx . pipiens linnaeus , cx . territans walker , culiseta longiareolata ( macquart ) , and cs . ( 2010 ) recently reported aedes vexans ( meigen ) and ochlerotatus caspius ( pallas ) s.l . in kurdistan province zaim and cranston ( 1986 ) noted that a female specimen from koolan of marivan , kurdistan province , which had been previously identified by lotfi ( 1973 ) as cx . there is little and scattered information about the fauna of culicidae in kermanshah , including at least 4 genera and 22 species ( macan 1950 , manouchehri et al . 1976 , unpublished data from institute of malariology , tehran university of medical sciences ) . certainly , kermanshah province has not been recognized as an endemic region for malaria at least in 4 past decades , but some sporadic cases were reported in several regions ( vejdani 2012 ) . this paper presents the results of recent surveys of culicidae mosquitoes from samples taken from a range of larval breeding sites in which they occur in nature , and adult mosquitoes captured in residential and sparsely populated areas by animal bait traps collection in the two provinces . the aim was to obtain new data which would be valuable to develop programs for future planning of mosquito control in this area of western iran . to better understand the culicidae fauna of kurdistan and kermanshah provinces and gather information on their distribution and the kinds of larval breeding sites in which they occur in nature , a descriptive cross - sectional study was performed from may , june and july 2012 in western iran . this study took place in three randomly selected rural villages in kermanshah province ( 3431 76n 470869e ) and three villages in kurdistan province ( 35.3113n 4699 60e ) . the district is bounded by the iraq in the west , hamadan and lorestan provinces in the east , ilam province in the south , and western azerbaijan and zanjan provinces in the north ( fig . the maximum and minimum mean monthly temperatures in kurdistan were 30 c and 1 c in july and february , respectively . the total annual rainfall was 800 mm , the minimum of 3.9 mm in april and maximum of 126.2 mm in november . in the same time the maximum and minimum mean monthly temperatures in kermanshah were 28.7 c and 6.9 c in august and december , respectively . the total annual rainfall was 406.4 mm , the minimum of 0.1 mm in july and maximum of 155.7 mm in november . the main economic activity of the people is agriculture and husbandry of cow and goats . three villages in the different topographical areas , including : hassan - abad - e - sofla , hassan - abad - e - olia , and hossain - abad in kurdistan province and cham - e - seyed sadegh , kaleh ghandi and saleh abad in kermanshah province were selected . to study the mosquito fauna , sampling was carried out using dipping method for collecting larvae and animal baited traps using suction tubes for adult mosquitoes . female mosquitoes were collected primarily through the use of suitable bait ( cow ) by suction tube , between 20.00 and 03.00 h monthly in fixed animal shelter randomly on each village . before catches , all collected mosquitoes were pinned and then identified using the keys of azari - hamidian and harbach ( 2009 ) . map of iran indicating the location of the study area in kurdistan and kermanshah provinces situated in western iran 2= hassan - abad - e - olia 3=hassan - abad - e - sofla 4= cham - e - seyed sadegh larval habitats present within 500 m radius of each village were identified , and sampled for mosquito larvae two per month . three randomly selected breeding places located within a 500 m radius of the study site were also included and formed the sampling unit for mosquito larvae . all larvae were collected from natural habitats , generally feeding with seepage water , such as swamps , seepages , streams , river banks , drying river beds , pools , and grasslands . up to 20 dipper samples were taken at intervals along the edge of each larval breeding place using a standard mosquito dipper ( 350 ml ) depending on the size of the habitat . the larvae for each habitat were placed separately in whirl packs and transported to the laboratory where they were sorted by genera and instars counted and recorded . all third and fourth instars of mosquitoes were preserved in lactophenol solution and later identified morphologically ( shahgudian 1960 , azari - hamidian and harbach 2009 ) . in order to determine the association of mosquito larvae , samples for each habitat type were pooled together in each site irrespective of date of collection . physical characteristics of the larval habitats including distance to the nearest homestead , habitat stability , water depth , turbidity , presence of other aquatic invertebrates , and presence of floating , emergent , and submerged vegetation were recorded . the habitat was recorded as unstable if it did not contain water during the next weekly sampling visit . the culicinae larvae along with the description of their breeding sites were sent to the school of public health , tehran university of medical sciences , tehran , iran . a total of 2013 adult and 4081 larvae of mosquitoes were collected , in which 5 genera and 11 species were recognized including , aedes vexans , ochlerotatus caspius s.l . these species were collected from the plain , slope and mountainous areas of the kurdistan and kermanshah provinces on 6 six selected villages . composition and localities of the larvae of mosquitoes collected in the west of iran , may july 2012 number and prevalence of adult culicidae mosquitoes catches by animal baited trap in the west of iran , may july 2012 the number and location of the mosquito larvae at the ecological station of this area is shown in table 1 . in the larval collection , superpictus ( 1.43 % ) , and cx . hortensis ( 1.66% ) ( table 1 ) . number and prevalence of mosquitoes catches by animal bait trap through the night , are shown in table 2 . overall , culex theileri was found predominant species ( 46.4 % ) , followed by ochlerotatus caspius s.l . caspius s.l . , with 46.4% and 21.46% respectively formed about 68% of the total adult collections . the other species were less frequent and in total accounting for 32% of the collections ( table 2 ) . culex theileri was the most frequent mosquitoes collected in this area , with total of 934 , and 418 specimens , by animal bait trap and larval collection respectively . was increased in the first third of the night and decrease slowly in the second and the end of the third night whereas blood feeding activity of cs . subochrea was increased in the second and end third of night and then decreased in first third of the night . mimeticus , and ae . vexans were active in the second third of the night . turkhudi was increased in the second and end third of night and then decreased in first third of the night . caspius s.l . accounted for 82.02% of the adult collection after the sun set in the animal bait trap collection whereas in the second third of the night these species with cx . pipiense were predominant and accounted for 76.22% of the adult collection . in the end of night caspius s.l . , and ae . vexans were predominant and about 85.36% of the total mosquito catches . the larval habitat characteristics and occurrence percentages of different mosquito larvae and their association are shown in table 3 and table 4 . this species was found mostly in transient , stagnant , clear water in natural habitats without vegetation , partial sunlight . natural habitats without vegetation transient , stagnant , clear water in , partial sunlight were found for the species of an . this species was found most in transient , stagnant , clear water in natural habitats without vegetation , partial sunlight . natural habitats without vegetation , permanent , slow ranning , turbid water in , full sunlight were found for the species of ae . this species was found most in transient , stagnant , clear water in natural habitats without vegetation , partial sunlight . natural habitats without vegetation , permanent , slow running , turbid water in , full sunlight were found for the species of cs . subochrea . the larval habitat characteristics and occurrence percentages of different mosquito larvae in the west of iran , july 2012 the association of different mosquito larvae with other species in west of iran , may by now 7 species of anopheles have been recorded in kurdistan province and 11 species in kermanshah province ( macan 1950 , vahabi 2001 , manouchehri et al . 1976 , moosa - kazemi et al 2010 , banafshi et al 2013 ) . he also did not distinguish the maculipennis group specimens in larval stage and identified the adults of an.maculipennis s.l . maculipennis reported as the complex species and molecular study was carried out to determine the species complex in the northern areas of the country ( sedaghat et al . anopheles turkudi is reported in kermanshah province for the first time , this species found in 15 provinces in central plateau , western , southwestern , eastern , southeastern , and southern iran ( saghafipour et al . turkhudi in the islam abad - e - gharb , kermanshah province was mentioned only in the unpublished documents of the school of public health and the institute of public health research ( saebi 1987 , unpublished data ) . in our study only an . maculipennis s.l of the maculipennis group was identified using the mean number of seta 2 branches of the fourth- and fifth - abdominal segments of larvae , which is 36.8 in an . ( azari - hamidian and harbach 2009 ) . in our study , also an . maculipennis group ( 40.5% ) as the most abundant anopheline species in kurdistan province . in parallel , mousakazemi et al . superpictus ( 0.16% ) from rice fields in lenjan and mobarakeh areas ( isfahan province , central iran ) . ( 19.0% ) in ardebil province , northwestern iran . out of 11 species of culicine mosquitoes , which had been recorded previously in kurdistan province ( zaim . caspius s.l . , and ae . vexans were the most prevalent species respectively , and collected in almost all of the sampling methods ( table 1 and 2 ) . in this study , caspius sibling species ( a or b ) in the country ( azari - hamidian 2007 ) . longiarolata was one of the most frequent culicine mosquitoes collected in this area , with total of 982 specimens , by larval collection . vagans by harbach s key ( 1988 ) using seta 1-iii - v , seta 1-m , seta 1-x , seta 1-c , and some other characters . based on this key , in this survey results of this survey were almost as the same of findings by previous study in kurdistan province ( zaim 1987 , vahabi 2001 , moosa - kazemi et al . vexans was reported as the potential vectors of human and domesticated animal pathogens ( horsfall 1955 , harbach 1988 ) . theileri was one of the culicine mosquitoes collected in the kermanshah , with total of 934 , and 418 specimens , by adult and larval collection respectively . this mosquito is the more prevalent species at higher altitudes and in rural areas of isfahan ( mousa - kazemi et al . 2000 ) , east azerbaijan ( abai et al . 2007 ) , ardebil ( azari - hamidian et al . 2009 ) and west azerbaijan provinces ( khoshdel - nezamiha et al . theileri as 27.1% in ardebil province , northwestern iran , more than any other culicidae species , our finding also showed the most prevalent species in western iran . in eastern turkey , cx . 2009 , alkan and aldemir 2010 ) . in agreement with previous investigations ( mousa - kazemi et al . observations made during the present study agree with those of simsek ( 2004 ) who noted that cx . theileri in turkey prefers large natural larval habitats that are generally present in rural areas . in our research , some potential vectors in medical and veterinary importance identified such as aedes . have been reported in this area shows the importance of mosquito control programmes ( ahmadnejad et al .
background : the aim of this study was to obtain new data which would be valuable to develop programs for future planning of mosquito controls in in western iran.methods:larvae and adult collections were carried out from different habitats using standard dipping and animal baited trap methods during may , june and july 2012 in two provinces ( kurdistan and kermanshah ) in the west of iran . 
 characteristics of breeding places were studied based on the habitat type ( river edge , ground pool ) , water conditions ( clear or turbid , stagnant or running ) , vegetation ( with or without vegetation ) , water temperature , sunlight exposure ( full or partial sunlight ) and so on.results:overall , 4081 third- and fourth - instars larvae and 2013 adult were collected . 
 five genera and eleven species of the family culicidae were identified . 
 mosquitoes collected in larval and adult stages including , anopheles maculipennis s.l . 
 ( 4.1% , 4.42% ) , an . 
 superpictus ( 1.35%,1.39% ) , an . 
 turkhudi ( 1.75%,1.68% ) , aedes vexans ( 2.5% , 8.78% ) , culex hortensis ( 1.59% , 1.04% ) , cx . mimeticus ( 5% , 2.38% ) , cx . 
 pipiens ( 16.5% , 8.15% ) , cx . 
 theileri ( 10% , 46.4% ) , culiseta longiareolata ( 24% , 4.27% ) , and cs . 
 subochrea ( 24% , 4.27% ) and ochlerotatus caspius s.l . 
 ( 9.1% , 21.46% ) . 
 culiseta longiareolata and cs . 
 subochrea found predominant species in larval collection , whereas culex theileri was dominant in adult collection . 
 anopheles turkhudi is reported for the first time in kermanshah province.conclusion:due to the geographical location of the two provinces , extensively studies with emphasis on mosquito ecology , to having comprehensive and up to date information is essential .