[A trial of Romanomermis iyengari and R. culicivorax mermithids as a means for controlling blood-sucking mosquitoes in the Tadzhik SSR].

Field trials of R. iyengari and R. culicivorax in the biological control for the mosquito larvae were conducted in Parkhar, Kuibyshevsk, Gissar districts and the outskirts of the city of Dushanbe, the Tadjik SSR. Larvae of Anopheles superpictus, An. pulcherrimus and An. hyrcanus in a dosage of 1-5 thousand intact larvae per sq. m were invaded by mermithids. The mean infection rate was 46 per cent. The maximum infection rate was 98 per cent. It depended on several factors: the dosage of intact larvae, temperature, water salinity, water flowage in the waterbodies and their overgrowth with plants. Slow-flowed rice paddies and flow-free fresh waterbodies turned to be the proper sites for mermithids. The effect was higher in Anopheles than in Culex mosquitos.