Potential malaria vectorAnopheles minimus(species A) still persisting in North East India

Abstract

BackgroundVector borne infectious diseases affect two third of the world’s human population and cause mortality in millions each year. Malaria remains one of the major killers in the Indian sub-continent and transmitted uninterruptedly by many efficient vectors and their sibling species. In North East India (NE), Anopheles minimus has been recognized as an important vector which shares majority of malaria cases. This study primarily focuses on to recognize the presence and distribution of sibling species of An. minimus in certain endemic area of NE India.MethodsAnopheles species were collected and identified using available morphological keys. The genomic DNA was extracted from the mosquito specimen and used to perform species specific PCR (ss PCR) for molecular identification of major malaria vector An. minimus sibling speciesResultMorphological identification suggested the presence of An. minimus sl in low density in the study area. The specimen of An. minimus subjected to ss PCR confirmed the prevalence of only one sibling species namely, An. minimus A in Sialmari and Chandubi.ConclusionThough in low density, but malaria vector An. minimus is still present in certain endemic areas of NE India. The ss PCR assay employed presently suggested that An. minimus sibling species A is prevailing in the region. Presently used ss PCR assay was simpler, faster, cheaper and more readily interpreted than earlier assays. This information could be useful in understanding of current prevalence and distribution of An. minimus sibling species complex in NE region of India.

Diversity of Mosquitoes Collected from the Southern Areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan

“…are in favor of an increase in population of mosquitoes with an enhanced survival 9,10 . Various studies have been conducted throughout Pakistan to report the diversity of mosquitoes in different areas [11][12][13][14][15] . In the year 2013, a study was conducted in Lahore on bio-diversity of mosquitoes with its climatic scenario.…”

Evaluation of a push-and-pull strategy using volatiles of host and non-host plants for the management of pear psyllids in organic farming

“…Essential oils (EOs) are known to affect the behavior of arthropods, serving as a repellent (da Camara et al, 2015) either locally or at particular distances, dissuading an arthropod from landing on a leaf surface with the purpose of oviposition (Benelli, 2015;Ribeiro et al, 2016;Fouad and da Camara, 2017;Lobo et al, 2019), and inhibiting feeding activity (Ali et al, 2017). EO can be used as repellents due to the presence of substances that bind to the proteins of odor receptors (Tyagi et al, 2016), which can lead to diminished feeding on the part of pests and consequent reduction in crop damage (McKenzie et al, 2010). EO of cedar, Juniperus genus has been demonstrated to possess bioactivity against several insects, e.g., Anopheles stephensi, Aedes aegypti, Culex quinquefasciatus (Prajapati et al, 2005), Sitophylus oryzae (Athanassiou et al, 2013;Dane et al, 2016), Tribolium castaneum (Bouzouita et al, 2008;Athanassiou et al, 2013), Pseudaletia unipuncta (Rosa et al, 2010), Xenopsylla cheopis (Dolan et al, 2014), Resseliella oculiperda (van Tol et al, 2007, Reticulitermes speratus (Park and Shin, 2005), Acanthoscelides obtectus (Papachristos and Stamopoulos, 2002) and the carrot psyllid, Bactericera cockerelli (Diaz-Montano and Trumble, 2013).…”