Page 40 - Volume 2, Issue 1, January 2009

Hellenic Plant Protection Journal

2:

41-46, 2009

Activity of pyriproxyfen, an insect growth regulator, on

Culex

pipiens

(Diptera: Culicidae)

A. Michaelakis

1

, A.-E. Porichi

2

and G. Koliopoulos

2

Summary

In order to find an adequate replacement of temephos an insect growth regulator (py-

riproxyfen) was evaluated as agent that can keep water bodies free frommosquito larval development

for a period of up to 6 days. Bioassays were conducted under laboratory condition against

Culex pip-

iens

(Diptera: Culicidae)

larvae. Furthermore, the attractiveness or repellency of the water containing

each of these two killing agents was estimated as oviposition substrate for this mosquito species. Re-

sults indicated that both temephos and pyriproxyfen were highly effective against mosquito larvae al-

though they act in a different way, and they can eliminate the mosquito production for the period that

they were tested. As it is indicated by the larvicidal bioassays, pyriproxyfen showed very good activity

causing complete adult emergence inhibition and its effectiveness is almost equal to those of the or-

ganophosphate compound in terms of total mosquito mortality. The presence of temephos in the wa-

ter had no effect on the attractiveness or repellency of

Cx. pipiens

oviposition substrate in contrast with

pyriproxyfen which acted as repellant.

Additional keywords:

Culex pipiens

biotype

molestus

, temephos, mosquito larvae, mosquito mortality, mos-

quito oviposition

control program against this mosquito spe-

cies.

The research on the development of

semiochemical products has created an in-

telligent approach, from the standpoint of

drawing the insect to the poison rather than

bringing the poison to the insect, the so-

called “attract-and-kill strategy” (21). This

new strategy has many advantages, such as

intelligent combination of pheromone and

insecticide, species specific, targeted appli-

cation, protection of beneficial organisms

and minimisation of the risk of resistance

development (17, 21).

Agents such as oviposition pheromones

(8), extracts from plants (7) and skatole wa-

ters (16) which act as oviposition attractants

could be valuable tools in applications of

the attract-and-kill strategy for the control

of

Culex

mosquitoes.

For many years the organophosphate

insecticide temephos used to be the most

common larvicide in the mosquito control

programs and its efficacy has been well doc-

umented (3, 15). Nevertheless, after its not

Introduction

Culex pipiens

is a mosquito species wide-

spread in Europe causing many nuisance

problems. Especially its biotype

molestus

prefers to feed mainly on mammals (2) and

occurs more frequently in human environ-

ments. Females have been reported to bite

man indoors and outdoors (in Latin

molestus

means nuisance). Except nuisance, their role

as disease vectors is another important mat-

ter and Lundström (10) suggests that

Cx. pip-

iens

biotype

molestus

Forskal 1775 should

be collected and processed for isolation of

West Nile virus in order to evaluate the oc-

currence of the virus in an area.

For these reasons there is often a neces-

sity to implement an integrated mosquito

1

Laboratory of Agricultural Entomology, Department

of Entomology and Agricultural Zoology, Benaki Phy-

topathological Institute, 8 St. Delta str., GR-145 61 Ki-

fissia (Athens), Greece.

2

Laboratory of Insecticides of Public Health Impor-

tance, Department of Pesticides Control and Phy-

topharmacy, Benaki Phytopathological Institute, 8 St.

Delta str., GR-145 61 Kifissia (Athens), Greece.

Corresponding author:

A.Michaelakis@bpi.gr