[Resistance to organophosphate insecticides in Culex pipiens L. (Diptera: Culicidae) and first signal of the presence of A5-B5 esterase in Italy].

After a short review on insecticide resistance in mosquitoes, the results of a study on organophosphate (OP) resistance, carried out on 2 Culex pipiens L. field populations from North-eastern Italy, are reported. The A1 an A4-B4 or A5-B5 esterases were detected in our sample by starch gel electrophoresis. In order to differentiate between A4-B4 and A5-B5 esterases, restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis at the esterases B locus was performed: both A4-B4 and A5-B5 aplotipes were found in one of the studied populations. This is the first record of A5-B5 esterases in continental Europe.