Biological control is the deliberate use of natural enemies to reduce the number of pest organisms. It comprises methods that have gained acceptance for controlling nuisance arthropods partly due to the emergence of insecticide resistance and also because people have become more aware about the need to limit environmental pollution. In the case of arthropod-borne disease vectors, biological con...

Laboratory bred female Aedes aegypti (L.) was used to determine sensitivity of multiplex PCR for detecting human blood meal. Human blood DNA was detected in live fully fed mosquitoes until 3 days after blood feeding, and for 4 weeks when stored at -20 degrees C. Among 890 field caught female mosquito samples examined for vertebrate DNA by multiplex PCR, results were positive for human, pig, dog...

Despite a large body of knowledge about the evolution of life histories, we know little about how variable food availability during an individual's development affects its life history. We measured the effects of manipulating food levels during early and late larval development of the mosquito Aedes aegypti on its growth rate, life history and reproductive success. Switching from low to high fo...

In Brazil, the entomological surveillance of Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti is performed by government-mandated larval surveys. In this study, the sensitivities of an adult sticky trap and traditional surveillance methodologies were compared. The study was performed over a 12-week period in a residential neighbourhood of the municipality of Pedro Leopoldo, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. An ovitrap a...

Interspecific mating between Aedes albopictus males and Ae. aegypti females was detected in the field using mark-release-recapture techniques. By 3 days after the release of virgin Ae. aegypti females into a field site containing only Ae. albopictus, 100% of the captured females were inseminated. Laboratory investigations indicated that male Ae. albopictus were very proficient at inseminating A...

In 2004, Aedes (Stegomyia) albopictus (Skuse, 1894) was observed for the first time in Catalonia, northeastern Spain. A decade later, it has spread throughout the eastern Mediterranean region of the country and the Balearic Islands. Framed within a national surveillance project, we present the results of monitoring in 2013 in the autonomous communities of the mainland Levante. The current study...

We investigated the aggregation model of coexistence as a potential mechanism explaining patterns of coexistence between container mosquitoes Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti in southern Florida, USA. Aedes aegypti coexists with the invasive A. albopictus in many locations despite being an inferior resource competitor under most conditions. In agreement with aggregation theory we observed sig...

Laboratory experiments attempting to elicit a response based on a natural condition rely on the assumption that the laboratory treatment accurately mimics field conditions. With Aedes albopictus (Skuse), laboratory experiments analyzing hatch rates assume that the laboratory stimuli resemble those received by the eggs in field conditions. With the use of a colonized strain of Ae. albopictus, an...

The spatial repellency responses of Aedes aegypti (L.) to deet, dehydrolinalool and linalool were evaluated using a dual port olfactometer. In the absence of human attractant mixture, each of the three chemicals resulted in activation and/or orientation of mosquitoes to the chemical source. Linalool was the most attractive compound. In the presence of human attractant mixture, activation and/or...