Basic HTML Version
Journal of Mosquito Research, 2013, Vol.3, No.5, 33
-
44
http://jmr.sophiapublisher.com
33
Research Report Open Access
Efficacy of the Steinernematid and Heterorhabditid Nematodes for Controlling
the Mosquito,
Culex
quinquefasciatus
Say (Diptera: Culicidae)
N.M. Zohdy
1
, M.M. Shamseldean
2
, E.M. Abd-El-Samie
1
, H.M. Hamama
1
1. Biological control, Entomology Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Egypt
2. Zoology and Nematology Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Egypt
Corresponding author email:
hebahamama@gmail.com;
Authors
Journal of Mosquito Research, 2013, Vol.3, No.5 doi: 10.5376/jmr.2013.03.0005
Received: 12 Jan., 2013
Accepted: 23 Jan., 2013
Published: 28 Feb., 2013
This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article:
Zohdy et al., 2013, Efficacy of the Steinernematid and Heterorhabditid Nematodes for Controlling the Mosquito,
Culex quinquefasciatus
Say (Diptera:
Culicidae), Vol.3, No.5 35-46 (doi: 10.5376/jmr.2013.03.0005)
Abstract
Entomopathogenic nematodes can be considered effective biocontrol agents of pest insects in aquatic habitat. Larvae of
Culex quinquefsciatus
Say were exposed to infective juveniles of
Heterorhabditis bacteriophora
,
H. indica
,
Steinernema carpo
-
capsae
, and
S. feltiae
under laboratory conditions. The bioassay studies revealed the suppressive role of
H. bacteriophora
and
H.
indica
nematode in controlling the mosquito,
C. quinquefasciatus
. They successfully established themselves in the host cadaver and
produced infective juveniles. On the other hand, both
S. carpocapsae
and
S. feltiae
failed to establish in the host larvae or attain
significant host mortality values. This is the first report of parasitism of entomopathogenic nematodes isolates from Egypt against
larvae of
C. quinquefasciatus
, with promising results. Therefore, further studies must be carried out to determine if these nematodes
would be effective as autochthonous agents for the control of
Culex
sp. and other mosquitoes of sanitary interest.
Keywords
Culex quinquefsciatus
;
Heterorhabditis bacteriophora
;
H. indica
;
Steinernema carpocapsae
;
S. feltiae
; bioassay
1 Introduction
Blood-feeding insects, including mosquitoes, are of
medical importance because they vector many para-
sitic and viral diseases of humans and animals. The
mosquito
Culex quinquefasciatus
Say (Diptera: Culic-
idae) is the vector of the filarial parasite
Wuchereria
bancrofti
(Cobbold) (Spirurida: Onchocercidae), which
causes human bancroftian filariasis and also an avian
malaria parasite.
Numerous studies have been undertaken for uncon-
ventional control agents owing to the hazards of conv-
entional pesticides. Several assays were carried out
using, for instance, mermithid nematodes against larv-
ae of
Culex
sp. and other genera (Santamarina, 2000;
Achinelly et al., 2004 and Perez-Pacheco et al., 2004).
Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPN) belonging to the
families, Heterorhabditidae and Steinernematidae have
been used against insects and arthropods of medical
and veterinary significance, including Cat flea (Silve-
rman et al., 1982), spiders (Poinar, 1989), flies, mosq-
uito larvae and black flies (Begley, 1990), body louse
(Weiss et al., 1993), ticks (Zhioua et al., 1995), and
head louse (De Doucet et al., 1998). The advantage of
EPN over the mermithid nematodes is that the former
can be grown in vivo in alternate hosts or in vitro on
artificial media such as dog food agar (Friedman, 1990).
A second advantage is the longevity of the infective
stages (3~6 months in water at room temperature) and
it is also characterized by short life cycle. They were
made exempt from registration and regulation requi-
rement by the US Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) (Grewal et al., 2005).
The infective juveniles (ijs) of those nematodes bel-
onging to the families Heterorhabditidae and Stein-
ernematidae carry cells of the symbiotic bacteria in
their intestine belonging to the genera,
Photorhabdus
and
Xenorhabdus
, respectively (Grewal & Georgis,
1998). Upon encountering a susceptible host, the
infective stages of both genera enter the host’s body
via the natural body openings (mouth, anus, spiracles),
and then penetrate into the body cavity where they
initiate development. The bacteria are released from
the infective juveniles soon after the nematode initiated
development in the host where they multiply and the