Efficacy of entomopathogenic nematode isolates from Turkey and Kyrgyzstan against the larvae of the mosquito species Culex pipiens L. (Diptera: Culicidae) under laboratory conditions

Abstract

Abstract Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) are among the most important of the pests in urban entomology, and they not only disturb people but they are also an important health hazard as they are diseases’ vectors. The biological control methods against this pest, which is difficult to fight off, have recently gained importance. A total of five different entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs), Steinernema feltiae (Aydın isolate), S. carpocapsae (Karadeniz isolate), and Heterorhabditis bacteriophora (Aydın isolate) isolated from Turkey and S. feltiae (KG3) and H. bacteriophora (KG81) isolated from Kyrgyzstan, were tested against the mosquito species Culex pipiens L. (Diptera: Culicidae) larvae under laboratory conditions. The experimental nematode suspensions were determined as 500, 1000, and 1500 IJs ml−1. The mortality rates in the trial were recorded after 24, 48, 72, 96, and 120 h. Dead mosquitoes were dissected under a microscope and confirmed to have died by the EPNs. Larval mortality was observed in all EPN species compared to the control group. H. bacteriophora (KG81) and S. carpocapsae isolates were found to be the most effective isolates with 100% larval mortality. The other isolates were H. bacteriophora (Aydın isolate) (70%), S. feltiae (KG3) (66.67%), and the most ineffective isolate S. feltiae (Aydın isolate) (13.3%).

Keywords

• Biological control
• Entomopathogenic nematodes
• Culex pipiens
• Larvae
• Efficacy
• Turkey