Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Gainesville, Florida » Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology » Mosquito and Fly Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #382668
Research Project: Integrated Pest Management of Mosquitoes and Biting Flies

Location: Mosquito and Fly Research

Title: Spatial repellent and synergistic activities of pyrethroid acids

Author
item BLOOMQUIST, JEFFREY - University Of Florida
item YANG, LIU - University Of Florida
item RICHOUX, GARY - University Of Florida
item Norris, Edmund
item CUBA, INGEBORG - Former ARS Employee
item Linthicum, Kenneth - Ken

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/2/2021
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Because mosquito populations have become resistant to a wide variety of insecticides, new control technologies are needed, and one proposed method is the deployment of spatial repellents. We discovered that several pyrethroid acids have spatial repellent activity greater than DEET, often more active than the parent pyrethroids, and with little cross resistance in a pyrethroid-resistant Puerto Rico strain of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Further investigation revealed that the acids can synergize not only contact repellent standards but also other pyrethroid components as well as the parent pyrethroids themselves. Synergism by the pyrethroid acids is expressed as both increased spatial repellency as well as human bite protection. Electrophysiological studies confirmed that pyrethroid acids were detected by mosquito antennae, and there was little resistance to olfactory sensing of these acids in antennae from female Puerto Rico strain mosquitoes carrying kdr mutations. The results suggest that the pyrethroid acids have useful properties that could augment the activity of repellent formulations.