© Benaki Phytopathological Institute
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: