Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association (2007) 23, 177-181

Sebastian A. Pelizza, Claudia C. López Lastra, James J. Becnel, Vilma Bisaro and Juan J. García (2007)
Biotic and abiotic factors affecting Leptolegnia chapmanii infection in Aedes aegypti
Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association 23 (2), 177-181
Abstract: The effects of water volume, container surface area and the density of hosts and fungal zoospores on the infectivity of the oomycete fungus Leptolegnia chapmanii to Aedes aegypti were investigated in the laboratory. Late 3rd or early 4th instars from a laboratory colony were used as hosts in all assays. Fourth instars infected with L. chapmanii for 48 h (6.1 ± 0.2 × 10⁴ zoospores/larva) were used as inoculum. Mortality rates were >90% in containers with 20 or fewer larvae when exposed to 1 infected larva, but they decreased to 37% in containers with 60 larvae. Mortality rates varied from 82% to 92% when healthy 4th instars were exposed to 1 and 2 infected larvae, respectively, whereas 100% mortality was obtained with > 3 infected larvae. Infection and mortality rates in containers with volumes that varied from 300 to 5,000 ml but that had similar water surface area (397 cm²) varied from 89 to 92%, respectively. When water volume was held constant at 250 ml in containers with variable surface areas (14.5-875 cm²), larval mortality varied from 96% to 25%, respectively. The ability of L. chapmanii to infect mosquito larvae is dose dependent and influenced by larval density and surface area.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Sebastian A. Pelizza, James J. Becnel, Juan José Garcia

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
general biology - morphology - evolution
environment/habitat manipulation

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Aedes aegypti
Leptolegnia chapmanii (entomopathogen)	Aedes aegypti