Host-seeking and blood-feeding behavior of Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) exposed to vapors of geraniol, citral, citronellal, eugenol, or anisaldehyde.
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 microg/cm3 for 24 and 48 h all showed different degrees of reduction in host-seeking ability. After 48 h of exposure to 0.250 microg/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 microg/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.
Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes of Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 300 Fenglin Rd., Shanghai 200032, China. hlhao@sibs.ac.cn
Huiling
H
Hao
Jianrong
J
Wei
Jianqing
J
Dai
Jiawei
J
Du
D000080462:Acyclic Monoterpenes; D000330:Aedes / Q000502:physiology*; D000447:Aldehydes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D001547:Benzaldehydes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005054:Eugenol / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000187:drug effects*; D007302:Insect Repellents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D039821:Monoterpenes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D013729:Terpenes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D013997:Time Factors; D014835:Volatilization
D000080462:Acyclic Monoterpenes; D000447:Aldehydes; D001547:Benzaldehydes; D007302:Insect Repellents; D039821:Monoterpenes; D013729:Terpenes; D005054:Eugenol; C024896:4-anisaldehyde; C007836:geraniol; C108217:citronellal; C007076:citral