Abstract

BackgroundEntomopathogenic fungi, Metarhizium anisopliae and Beauveria bassiana, are promising bio-pesticides for application against adult malaria mosquito vectors. An understanding of the behavioural responses of mosquitoes towards these fungi is necessary to guide development of fungi beyond the 'proof of concept' stage and to design suitable intervention tools.MethodsHere we tested whether oil-formulations of the two fungi could be detected and avoided by adult Anopheles gambiae s.s., Anopheles arabiensis and Culex quinquefasciatus. The bioassays used a glass chamber divided into three compartments (each 250 × 250 × 250 mm): release, middle and stimulus compartments. Netting with or without fungus was fitted in front of the stimulus compartment. Mosquitoes were released and the proportion that entered the stimulus compartment was determined and compared between treatments. Treatments were untreated netting (control 1), netting with mineral oil (control 2) and fungal conidia formulated in mineral oil evaluated at three different dosages (2 × 1010, 4 × 1010 and 8 × 1010 conidia m-2).ResultsNeither fungal strain was repellent as the mean proportion of mosquitoes collected in the stimulus compartment did not differ between experiments with surfaces treated with and without fungus regardless of the fungal isolate and mosquito species tested.ConclusionOur results indicate that mineral-oil formulations of M. anisopliae and B. bassiana were not repellent against the mosquito species tested. Therefore, both fungi are suitable candidates for the further development of tools that aim to control host-seeking or resting mosquitoes using entomopathogenic fungi.

Highlights

  • Laboratory [1,2,3] and small scale field trials [4,5] have demonstrated that malaria vectors can succumb to entomopathogenic fungus infection

  • Successful fungal infection depends on the host contacting treated surface and receiving a threshold dose of infective conidia [22,23]

  • Results of our two experimental bioassays indicated no repellency of conidia against the three mosquito species tested: Similar proportions of mosquitoes traversed the netting with and without fungus into the stimulus compartment

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Summary

Introduction

Laboratory [1,2,3] and small scale field trials [4,5] have demonstrated that malaria vectors can succumb to entomopathogenic fungus infection. These fungi can infect and kill insecticide-resistant and insecticide-susceptible malaria vectors [6,7,8]. In these views, entomopathogenic fungi are increasingly attracting attention as potential biological control agents against malaria vectors, as they are. An understanding of the behavioural responses of mosquitoes towards these fungi is necessary to guide development of fungi beyond the ‘proof of concept’ stage and to design suitable intervention tools

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