Philippine species of Mesocyclops (Crustacea: Copepoda) as a biological control of Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus)

College

College of Science

Department/Unit

Biology

Document Type

Article

Source Title

Dengue Bulletin

Volume

28

First Page

174

Last Page

178

Publication Date

2004

Abstract

The predatory capacity of two local populations of Mesocyclops aspericornis (Daday) and Mesocyclops ogunnus species were evaluated, for the first time in the Philippines, as a biological control agent for Aedes aegypti (L) mosquitoes. Under laboratory conditions, Mesocyclops attacked the mosquito first instar larvae by the tail, side and head. The mean of first instar larvae consumed by M. aspericornis and M. ogunnus were 23.96 and 15.00, respectively. An analysis of the variance showed that there was a highly significant difference between the mean number of first instar mosquito larvae consumed by M. aspericornis and by M. ogunnus, which indicated that the former is a more efficient predator of dengue mosquito larvae.

The results of the small-scale field trials showed that the mean number of surviving larvae in experimental drums was 63.10 and in control drums was 202.95. The Student t-test of means indicated that there was a significant difference between the mean number of surviving larvae in the drums with and without M. aspericornis. The findings indicated that M. aspericornis females were good biological control agents, for they destroyed/consumed about two-thirds of the wild dengue mosquito larvae population.

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Disciplines

Entomology

Keywords

Copepoda—Varieties—Philippines; Biological pest control agents; Vector control—Biological control; Aedes aegypti—Biological control; Aedes albopictus—Biological control

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