T. Chareonviriyaphap et al., PESTICIDE AVOIDANCE-BEHAVIOR IN ANOPHELES-ALBIMANUS, A MALARIA VECTORIN THE AMERICA, Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association, 13(2), 1997, pp. 171-183
The behavioral responses of 4 populations of Anopheles albimanus femal
es to DDT, permethrin, and deltamethrin were characterized in excite-r
epellency tests. One test population (ST) from Fl Salvador has been ma
intained as a colony for 20 years. A second population (ES) from Guate
mala was colonized in 1992. Third and fourth populations consisted of
field-caught specimens from Toledo District (TO) of southern Belize in
1994 and Corozal District (GO) of northern Belize, respectively. Fema
les of ES, TO, and CO populations rapidly escaped from direct contact
with treated surfaces for each of the 3 insecticides. Similarities in
escape responses of insecticide-resistant (ES) versus insecticide-susc
eptible populations (TO, CO) suggest that there is no relationship bet
ween physiological and behavioral responses of An. albimanus populatio
ns to DDT, permethrin, and deltamethrin. Females from all but the ST c
olony escaped in greater numbers from chambers without direct contact
with treated surfaces than from control chambers (P < 0.05). Few femal
es from the ST colony escaped from test chambers, regardless of which
insecticide was used or whether contact was allowed, indicating that t
he ST colony has lost its capability to respond to insecticides. Repel
lent responses were significant; but they were not pronounced in 30-mi
n exposures, and they were very pronounced in 4-h exposures. We conclu
de that irritant and repellent responses of malaria vectors to insecti
cides are important components of malaria control operations.