[The evaluation of the infectious capacity of the parasitic nematode Romanomermis iyengari (Welch, 1964) (Nematoda: Mermithidae) in natural mosquito larval breeding areas].

Field tests were carried out with the nematode parasite Romanomermis iyengari (Welch, 1964) to fight 3 species of mosquito larvae Anopheles albimanus (Wiedeman, 1821); Culex nigripalpus (Theobald, 1901); and Culex quinquefasciatus (Say, 1823) in three ecologically different natural mosquito reservoirs. The release of the nematode embryos (infective stage) in the above-mentioned reservoirs was carried out with a Holder-planta 5 manual sprayer, at 2 atm, and an application dose of 1000 parasite embryos/m2. The parasite embryos were obtained from 6 nematode cultures, soaked in distilled water. Results showed that mosquito larvae were parasitized by R. iyengari as follows: 100% of the A. albimanus and 85% of the C. nigripalpus, in the first reservoir; 85% of the C. nigripalpus, in the second reservoir; and 80% of the C. nigripalpus and 75% of the C. quinquefasciatus in the third one. Thus, the potential use of the nematode parasite Romanomermis iyengari as a biological control agent of mosquito larvae was shown.