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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Gainesville, Florida » Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology » Mosquito and Fly Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #211121

Title: Susceptibility of Aedes aegypti, Culex quinquefasciatus Say, and Anopheles quadrimaculatus Say to 19 Pesticides with Different Modes of Action.

Author
item Wei Pridgeon, Yuping
item PEREIRA, ROBERTO - UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
item Becnel, James
item Allan, Sandra - Sandy
item Clark, Gary
item Linthicum, Kenneth - Ken

Submitted to: Journal of Medical Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/10/2007
Publication Date: 1/15/2008
Citation: Pridgeon, J.W., Pereira, R., Becnel, J.J., Allan, S.A., Clark, G.G., Linthicum, K. 2008. Susceptibility of Aedes aegypti, Culex quinquefasciatus Say, and Anopheles quadrimaculatus Say to 19 Pesticides with Different Modes of Action. Journal of Medical Entomology. 45(1):82-87.

Interpretive Summary: To evaluate the relative toxicity of different insecticides against mosquitoes, 19 pesticides with different modes of action were chosen to be applied topically to three medically important mosquito species. Among the 19 pesticides tested, the only pesticide that had higher toxicity than permethrin was fipronil, with toxicity higher than permethrin for 107-, 4849-, and 2- fold against Aedes aegypti, Culex quinquefasciatus, and Anopheles quadrimaculatus, respectively. Abamectin, imidacloprid, and spinosad also showed relatively high toxicities against the three mosquito species. However, bifenzate, dicofol, amitraz, and propargite all showed very low toxicities against the three species. Cx. quinquefasciatus was the least susceptible species to 9 pesticides tested, whereas Ae. aegypti was the least susceptible species to 6 pesticides tested, and An. quadrimaculatus was the least susceptible species to 4 pesticides tested. Our results revealed that different mosquito species had different susceptibility to pesticides, suggesting that selecting the most efficacious compounds for particular mosquito species is an important step for successful mosquito control.

Technical Abstract: To access the relative potency of insecticides to control adult mosquitoes, 19 pesticides with various modes of action were evaluated against three medically important mosquito species. On the basis of 24-h LD50 values after topical application, the only pesticide that had higher toxicity than permethrin was fipronil, with toxicity higher than permethrin for 107-, 4849-, and 2- fold against Aedes aegypti, Culex quinquefasciatus Say, and Anopheles quadrimaculatus Say, respectively. Abamectin, imidacloprid, and spinosad also showed relatively high toxicities against the three mosquito species , with LD50 values lower than 0.0032 'g per mg of mosquito ('g/mg). However, bifenzate, dicofol, amitraz, and propargite all showed very low toxicities against the three species, with LD50 values larger than 0.1 'g/mg. On the basis of 24-h LD50 values, Cx. quinquefasciatus was the least susceptible species to 9 pesticides tested, whereas Ae. aegypti was the least susceptible species to 6 pesticides tested, and An. quadrimaculatus was the least susceptible species to 4 pesticides tested. Our results revealed that different species of mosquitoes had different susceptibility to pesticides, demonstrating the need to select the most efficacious compounds for particular mosquito species to achieve successful mosquito control.