Emerging Technologies for Urban Mosquito Management - Urban Insect Pests: Sustainable Management Strategies - page 25

Table 3.2. Emerging technologies for urban mosquito management.

Life-cycle stage
affected

Emerging technology Brief description Phase of development

Impregnated fabrics (not
mosquito nets)

Curtains, hangings and water jar
covers impregnated with
insecticide

Adult Field testing

Polystyrene beads Beads fl oat on surface of water

preventing development of larvae

Larva Limited operational use

Ovitrap Attract egg-laying females and kill

resultant eggs/larvae

Egg Field testing

Lethal adult trap Adults are attracted and killed

May be combined with ovitrap

Adult Some in fi eld testing

Some in operational use

Insecticidal paint Adult killed on resting indoors on

painted surface

Adult Field testing and limited

operational use

Sugar baits Attraction and kill when in bait station

or applied to foliage

Adult Limited operational use

Entomopathogenic fungi Beauveria/Metarhizium in a trap or

on fabric to kill resting adults

Older adult In development and

fi eld testing

Laser Kill by laser whilst in fl ight Adult Development and laboratory

test

Auto-dissemination systems Adult attracted to a trap and acquires

larvicide which she disseminates
to oviposition sites

Larva Field testing

Trap design under further
development

Nematodes Mermithids introduced into

permanent water bodies parasitize
and kill mosquito larvae

Larva Field testing

Mesocyclops Predatory copepod placed in water

containers kills mosquito larvae

Larva Limited operational use

Densovirus Virus released into oviposition sites

reduces larval survival and is
carried by females to new
oviposition sites

Larva Cage testing

Changing water quality (e.g.
mechanically or by addition
of Nualgi)

Oxygenation and reduction in
organic content of sewage effl uent
or polluted water reduces Culex
egg lay and larval survival

Larva Operational use of

mechanical aeration in
sewage treatment; Nualgi
in development for this
purpose

Classical Sterile Insect
Technique

Irradiation or chemical sterilization of
adult mosquitoes and release of
adult males

Next generation Field testing

Release of Insects with
Dominant Lethality (RIDL)

Release of adult males with gene
causing non-viable offspring

Next generation Ae. aegypti larval lethal in

fi eld testing. Other strains
in development

Wolbachia (endosymbiotic
bacterium that passes to
the next generation
transovarially and causes
physiological changes)

(i) Incompatible Insect Technique:
release of adult males with
Wolbachia to mate with native
females, producing no offspring;
(ii) Population replacement:
release of males and females with
Wolbachia , which reduces vector
competence

Next generation
or all
subsequent
generations

One historic example of
operational use ( Culex )
Now fi eld testing and
cage testing ( Aedes );
laboratory strain of
Anopheles

Other genetic systems (e.g.
HEGs, RNAi)

Release of strain with introduced
genes that reduce the mosquito
population or its ability to transmit
disease and may be preferentially
inherited

Subsequent
generations

Laboratory development

Human drug (e.g. ivermectin) Human drug in bloodstream kills

feeding mosquitoes or prevents
development of parasites in these
mosquitoes

Adult female Field testing

Spatial Decision Support
Systems

Rapid spatial mapping of vector/
disease incidence, direction and
monitoring of vector control

All life stages Use of several locally

developed systems;
limited use of
internationally developed
systems