Estimated resistance of the malaria mosquito Anopheles messeae s.l. to the insecticide malathion

ABSTRACTResistance to agricultural pesticides is an important and insufficiently studied concern for pest and disease vector research. We determined the malathion resistance of species in theAnopheles maculipennis mosquito group in a habitat near Novosibirsk, Russia. Most of the 851 individuals we measured were members of theAnopheles messeae s.l. complex (An. messeae andAn. daciae species). The LC50 value for malathion was 0.052 mg/L for the mixed specimens, and we failed to find any differences between species. The LC50 value was within the range of values for malathion resistance ofAnopheles stephensi andCulex quinquefasciatus. As the main resistance mechanism to organophosphate and carbamate insecticides is a single mononucleotide substitution in theace ‐1 gene, we searched for this mutation inAn. messeae s.l. andAn. beklemishevi by restriction analysis. This mutation was not found in 347 of the specimens. We sequenced theace ‐1 gene fragment for 24 specimens from four species of theAnopheles maculipennis group, includingAn. messeae, An. daciae, An. atroparvus, andAn. beklemishevi. These specimens harbored a nucleotide substitution in the triplet where a mutation can lead to insecticide resistance, but this substitution would make it difficult for the resistance to develop. Since the studied specimens belong to branches of the Palearctic portion of theAnopheles maculipennis group, we suspect that all other Palearctic species of this group would have difficulties harbo...
Source: Journal of Vector Ecology - Category: Biology Authors: Tags: Original Article Source Type: research