Alvarez Costa Agustín, Gonzalez Paula V, Harburguer Laura V, Masuh Héctor M
Centro de Investigaciones de Plagas e Insecticidas (UNIDEF-CONICET- CITEDEF), Juan Bautista de La Salle, Villa Martelli, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
J Med Entomol. 2018 Aug 29;55(5):1098-1104. doi: 10.1093/jme/tjy086.
An essential strategy to deal with mosquito-borne diseases is the control of larvae in their development sites. The mosquitoes Anopheles pseudopunctipennis (Theobald) (Diptera: Culicidae), a malaria vector, and Aedes aegypti (L.) (Diptera: Culicidae), vector of dengue, Zika, yellow fever, and chikungunya viruses, breed in very different habitats. Insecticide treatments of mosquito larvae focus mainly on their lethal effects. However, insecticide degradation or the poor dosage of larvicides will invariably lead to the sublethal exposure of a target (and nontarget) species, the nonlethal effects of these compounds may have important effects on vital insect activities, and therefore their evaluation is necessary. In this study, we assessed the survival and swimming behavior of larvae of Ae. aegypti and An. pseudopunctipennis exposed to increasing concentrations of three larvicides. We found that Ae. aegypti, was more sensitive to the larvicides than An. pseudopunctipennis, we also observed an overall decrease in the movement of those larvae of both species, which survive the treatments. This decrease might have ecological relevance in their natural habitats, increasing the chance to be predated and decreasing their ability to obtain food. Finally, this information will be valuable to assist authorities to make decisions in the implementation of further control programs.
应对蚊媒疾病的一项重要策略是控制蚊虫幼虫的滋生地。疟蚊伪点按蚊（Theobald）（双翅目：蚊科）是疟疾传播媒介，埃及伊蚊（L.）（双翅目：蚊科）是登革热、寨卡病毒、黄热病和基孔肯雅病毒的传播媒介，它们在截然不同的栖息地繁殖。对蚊虫幼虫进行杀虫剂处理主要关注其致死效果。然而，杀虫剂降解或杀幼虫剂用量不当必然会导致目标（和非目标）物种受到亚致死暴露，这些化合物的非致死效应可能会对昆虫的重要活动产生重大影响，因此有必要对其进行评估。在本研究中，我们评估了埃及伊蚊和伪点按蚊幼虫在接触浓度不断增加的三种杀幼虫剂后的存活情况和游动行为。我们发现，埃及伊蚊比伪点按蚊对杀幼虫剂更敏感，我们还观察到两种存活下来的幼虫的活动总体减少。这种减少在它们的自然栖息地可能具有生态相关性，增加了被捕食的机会并降低了它们获取食物的能力。最后，这些信息对于协助当局在实施进一步控制计划时做出决策将是有价值的。
