A Review of Resistance Mechanisms of Synthetic Insecticides and Botanicals, Phytochemicals, and Essential Oils as Alternative Larvicidal Agents Against Mosquitoes

Abstract

Mosquitoes are a serious threat to the society, acting as vector to several dreadful diseases. Mosquito management programes profoundly depend on the routine of chemical insecticides that subsequently lead to the expansion of resistance midst the vectors, along with other problems such as environmental pollution, bio magnification, and adversely affecting the quality of public and animal health, worldwide. The worldwide risk of insect vector transmitted diseases, with their associated illness and mortality, emphasizes the need for effective mosquitocides. Hence there is an immediate necessity to develop new eco-friendly pesticides. As a result, numerous investigators have worked on the development of eco-friendly effective mosquitocidal compounds of plant origin. These products have a cumulative advantage of being cost-effective, environmentally benign, biodegradable, and safe to non-target organisms. This review aims at describing the current state of research on behavioral, physiological, and biochemical effects of plant derived compounds with larvicidal effects on mosquitoes. The mode of physiological and biochemical action of known compounds derived from various plant families as well as the potential of plant secondary metabolites, plant extracts, and also the essential oils (EO), as mosquitocidal agents are discussed. This review clearly indicates that the application of vegetal-based compounds as mosquito control proxies can serve as alternative biocontrol methods in mosquito management programes.

Target Activity of Isaria tenuipes (Hypocreales: Clavicipitaceae) Fungal Strains against Dengue Vector Aedes aegypti (Linn.) and Its Non-Target Activity Against Aquatic Predators

“…The sub-lethal dosage of My-It statistically reduced the oviposition deterrence index of the dengue mosquito at 1 × 10 4 conidia/mL with maximum deterrence index of 83.4% (F4,20 = 25.88, p ≤ 0.001) and it is more significant than those of the other treatments-1 × 10 4…”

“…Larvicidal bioassays were adapted based on the methodology of the World Health Organization [4] with slight modifications. The second, third, and fourth instar larvae were transferred into 250 mL sterile plastic containers covering 25 mL of dosage treatments with different discriminate concentration of My-It (1 × 10 2 , 1 × 10 4 , 1 × 10 6 , and 1 × 10 8 conidia/mL) with the blend of 24 mL de-chlorinated sterile water, along with 1 mL of mycotoxin dosage, and kept at 27 • C. This procedure was replicated three times and one control was kept for each replication, i.e., 20 larvae were used without any chemicals.…”

“…Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) are vectors for serious parasites and pathogens, including malaria, filariasis, and important arboviruses, such as dengue virus, yellow fever, chikungunya, West Nile virus, and Zika virus [ 2 , 3 ]. Aedes spp.is a vector transmitting the previously mentioned arboviruses, whose dispersion is wide-reaching [ 3 , 4 ]. Almost 40% of the global population live under hazard of dengue, and yearly, 24,000 deaths are reported.…”

Premna Species in Vietnam: Essential Oil Compositions and Mosquito Larvicidal Activities

“…It has been reported that insecticide use has detrimental effects on non-target organisms, for example imidacloprid on honey bee ( Apis mellifera ) [ 17 ], damselfly ( Ischnura senegalensis ) [ 18 ], fathead minnow ( Pimephales promelas ), or the amphipod ( Hyalella azteca ) [ 19 ]. Thus, there is a need for new and complementary methods for controlling insect vectors, and essential oils have shown promise as renewable and environmentally-safe alternatives to the use of synthetic insecticides [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ].…”

“…The Lamiaceae has been an important family in terms of biologically active essential oils. Essential oils from members of this family have demonstrated potential as natural insect pest control agents [ 24 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ]. The genus Premna L. was formerly included in the family Verbenaceae, but has been reassigned to the Lamiaceae [ 33 ].…”