title: Towards green oviposition deterrents? Effectiveness of Syzygium lanceolatum (Myrtaceae) essential oil against six mosquito vectors and impact on four aquatic biological control agents.
abstract: Essential oils (EOs) from plants may be alternative sources of molecules toxic against mosquito vectors of public health relevance. Most of researches in this field focused on EOs as larvicides or ovicides, while limited efforts focused on the exploitation of EOs as oviposition deterrents. In the present study, the larvicidal and oviposition deterrent activity of Syzygium lanceolatum leaf EO was evaluated against six mosquito species, Anopheles stephensi, An. subpictus, Aedes aegypti, Ae. albopictus, Culex quinquefasciatus, and Cx. tritaeniorhynchus. The chemical composition of the S. lanceolatum EO was analyzed by GC-MS analysis, showing the presence of phenyl propanal, β-caryophyllene, α-humulene, and caryophyllene oxide as major constituents. S. lanceolatum EO showed high acute toxicity on An. stephensi (LC50= 51.20 μg/ml), Ae. aegypti (LC50= 55.11 μg/ml), Cx. quinquefasciatus (LC50= 60.01 μg/ml), An. subpictus (LC50= 61.34 μg/ml), Ae. albopictus (LC50= 66.71 μg/ml), and Cx. tritaeniorhynchus (LC50= 72.24 μg/ml) larvae. Furthermore, the EO was effective as oviposition deterrent against the six tested mosquito species, with OAI on An. stephensi, An. subpictus, Ae. aegypti, Ae. albopictus, Cx. quinquefasciatus, and Cx. tritaeniorhynchus reaching -0.83, -0.81, -0.84, -0.83, -0.84, and -0.86, respectively. The toxicity of S. lanceolatum EO against several biological control agents of mosquitoes, including water bugs (Anisops bouvieri and Diplonychus indicus) and fishes (Gambusia affinis and Poecilia reticulata), was extremely low, with LC50ranging between 4148 and 15,762 μg/ml. Overall, our results pointed out the promising potential of the S. lanceolatum leaf EO as a source of environmental-friendly oviposition deterrents and larvicides effective against a wide number of mosquito species of importance for parasitology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, via del Borghetto 80, 56124, Pisa, Italy. benelli.giovanni@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Benelli
authors.affiliation: Unit of Vector Control, Phytochemistry and Nanotechnology, Department of Zoology, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar, Tamil Nadu, 608 002, India.
authors.forename: Mohan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rajeswary
authors.affiliation: Unit of Vector Control, Phytochemistry and Nanotechnology, Department of Zoology, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar, Tamil Nadu, 608 002, India. drgovind1979@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Marimuthu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Govindarajan
mesh_terms: D000330:Aedes; D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles; D061046:Biological Control Agents / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology; D003465:Culex; D005260:Female; D007306:Insecticides / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D007814:Larva / Q000187:drug effects*; D000081222:Monocyclic Sesquiterpenes; D000072138:Mosquito Vectors; D027822:Myrtaceae; D009822:Oils, Volatile / Q000737:chemistry*; D010058:Oviposition; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry*; D000081223:Polycyclic Sesquiterpenes; D012717:Sesquiterpenes / Q000737:chemistry*; D027842:Syzygium
chemical_list: D061046:Biological Control Agents; D007306:Insecticides; D000081222:Monocyclic Sesquiterpenes; D009822:Oils, Volatile; D000081223:Polycyclic Sesquiterpenes; D012717:Sesquiterpenes; C042686:humulene; C024714:caryophyllene; C515179:caryophyllene oxide
keywords: Biosafety; Dengue; Filariasis; Japanese encephalitis; Larvicides; Malaria; Zika virus