Journal of Medical Entomology (2008) 45, 533-539

Huiling Hao, Jianrong Wei, Jianqing Dai and Jiawei Du (2008)
Host-seeking and blood-feeding behavior of Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) exposed to vapors of geraniol, citral, citronellal, eugenol, or anisaldehyde
Journal of Medical Entomology 45 (3), 533-539
Abstract: The changes of the host-seeking and blood-feeding behavior of Aedes albopictus (Skuse) (Diptera: Culicidae) surviving in a space containing vapors of the spatial repellents geraniol, eugenol, citral, anisaldehyde, or citronellal were evaluated using an arm-in-cage test and a bioassay of bloodmeals on a shaved mouse. The mosquitoes surviving concentrations of geraniol, citral, eugenol, or anisaldehyde at 0.013, 0.025, 0.050, 0.100, and 0.250 ìg/cm³ for 24 and 48 h all showed different degrees of reduction in host-seeking ability. After 48 h of exposure to 0.250 ìg/cm³ geraniol, almost 100% of the mosquitoes lost their host-seeking ability. The next most potent spatial repellent, anisaldehyde, stopped host seeking by >85.5%. Citronellal did not result in a significant reduction in the host-seeking ability at any concentration level after either 24 or 48 h of treatment. We also found that reduction of host-seeking ability recovered after various times. The longest recovery time (144 h) was observed for geraniol after 24 h at 0.250 ìg/cm³. In the study, geraniol, eugenol, and citral all significantly affected the activation and orientation stages of the blood-feeding behavior. However, only anisaldehyde significantly interrupted the normal blood-feeding of mosquitoes in all stages of behavior. These initial laboratory results clearly showed that anisaldehyde and geraniol could be promising spatial repellents against Ae. albopictus that they could play a major role in new repellent technology.
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Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Jian-Rong Wei, Jianqing Dai, Jia-Wei Du

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
control - general

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Aedes albopictus