Males as Vehicles for Insecticide Delivery.

continues to spread globally and remains a challenge to control, in part due to its 'cryptic behavior' in that it often deposits eggs (oviposits) in larval habitats that are difficult to find and treat using traditional methods. Auto-dissemination strategies target these cryptic breeding sites by employing mosquitoes to deliver lethal doses of insecticide. This report describes the initial field trials of an application known as Autodissemination Augmented by Males (ADAM), utilizing males dusted with pyriproxyfen (PPF).

Genome-wide divergence among invasive populations of Aedes aegypti in California.

Background: In the summer of 2013, Aedes aegypti Linnaeus was first detected in three cities in central California (Clovis, Madera and Menlo Park). It has now been detected in multiple locations in central and southern CA as far south as San Diego and Imperial Counties. A number of published reports suggest that CA populations have been established from multiple independent introductions.

Quantification of GST and esterase activities in pyrethrin-resistant mosquitoes using pyrethroid-like fluorescent substrates.

Botanical pyrethrins and synthetic pyrethroids are highly potent and environmentally safe insecticides that are used to control a wide range of disease vector and pest arthropods. Unfortunately, resistance to these insecticides has been demonstrated in numerous medically important mosquito species. In this study adult sensu lato were captured in agricultural and urban locations in Fresno County, California, and subsequently exposed to a commercial formulation of pyrethrin insecticide by ultra low volume spraying.

Identification of Culex pipiens complex mosquitoes in a hybrid zone of West Nile virus transmission in Fresno County, California.

Culex pipiens sensu lato mosquitoes were collected from 24 gravid traps (mid-June to mid-October, 2005) in Fresno County, CA. Captured gravid females were allowed to oviposit before sibling species identification by Ace.2 PCR and detection of West Nile virus (WNV) RNA by RT-PCR were performed on the mother and her offspring.

High level methoprene resistance in the mosquito Ochlerotatus nigromaculis (Ludlow) in central California.

In the summer of 1998, failures of methoprene field applications to control the mosquito Ochlerotatus nigromaculis (Ludlow) were noticed in several pastures in the outskirts of Fresno, California, USA. Effective control with methoprene had been achieved for over 20 years prior to this discovery. Susceptibility tests indicated that the Fresno Oc nigromaculis populations had developed several thousand-fold higher LC50 and LC90 tolerance levels to methoprene compared with methoprene-naïve populations.