Research
Anopheline and culicine mosquitoes are not repelled by surfaces treated with the entomopathogenic fungi Metarhizium anisopliae and Beauveria bassiana
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* Corresponding author: Ladslaus L Mnyone llaurent@ihi.or.tz
1 Biomedical and Environmental Group, Ifakara Health Institute, P.O. Box 53, Off Mlabani Passage, Ifakara, Tanzania
2 Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University and Research Centre, P.O. Box 8031, 6700 EH, Wageningen, The Netherlands
3 Pest Management Centre, Sokoine University of Agriculture, P.O. Box 3110, Morogoro, Tanzania
4 Faculty of Biomedical and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, 120 University Place, G12 8TA, Glasgow, UK
5 Vector Group, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, L3 5QA, UK
6 The University of Queensland, School of Population Health, Australian Centre for Tropical and International Health, Brisbane, 4006, Australia
Parasites & Vectors 2010, 3:80 doi:10.1186/1756-3305-3-80
Published: 27 August 2010Abstract
Background
Entomopathogenic 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.
Methods
Here 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).
Results
Neither 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.
Conclusion
Our 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.