Wide-Area Larviciding with a Buffalo Turbine® Mist Sprayer and Vectolex® WDG

Abstract

Wide-Area Larviciding techniques (WALS™) using aqueous suspensions of Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis and various types of mist sprayers have typically been employed against container-inhabiting species of mosquitoes such as Aedes albopictus and Ae. aegypti in urban peridomestic environments. However, relatively little work has been done to examine the use of WALS-applied aqueous suspensions of Lysinibacillus sphaericus (Ls) against susceptible species of mosquitoes in larger natural habitats such as forest pools, floodwaters, and marshes. This study characterized the spray of an aqueous suspension of VectoLex® WDG (Ls) dispersed with a Buffalo Turbine® Mist Sprayer retrofitted with a Micronair rotary atomizer. The results indicate that when VectoLex WDG is applied similarly to traditional urban WALS methodologies, this material is highly effective at reducing larval mosquito populations in areas holding floodwater (an average 88.5% reduction over 6 wk).