Efficacy of Bacillus Sphaericus Neide against Larval Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) and Midges (Diptera: Chironomidae) in the Laboratory

Abstract

The primary powders of strains 1593 (IF-119) and 2362 (IF-118 and ABG-6184) of Bacillus sphaericus Neide were tested as larvicides of laboratory-reared mosquitoes and field-collected midges, and were compared with the activity of strain 1593-4 (RB-80), the international standard of B. sphaericus. Two mosquito species, Aedes aegypti (Linn.) and Ae. taeniorhynchus (Wiedemann), and two midge species, Chironomus crassocaidatis Malloch and Glyptotendipes paripes Edwards were insensitive to B. sphaericus (LC@^50 > 50 ppm)$. Among the five susceptible mosquito species, Culex quinquefasciatus Say, Cx. nigripalpus Theobald, Anopheles albimanus Wiedemann, and An. quadrimaculatus Say, were most susceptible to ABG-6184 (strain 2362) with LC@^90 values of 0.0044, 0.0067, 0.54, and 7.35 ppm, respectively. Wyeomyia mitchellii (Theobald) was almost equally susceptible to ABG-6184 LC@^90 = 0.276 ppm) and strain 1593 (IF-119) (LC@^90 = 0.261 ppm).