Males As Vehicles for Insecticide Delivery

continues to spread globally and remains a challenge to control, in part due to its 'cryptic behavior' in that it often deposits eggs (oviposits) in larval habitats that are difficult to find and treat using traditional methods. Auto-dissemination strategies target these cryptic breeding sites by employing mosquitoes to deliver lethal doses of insecticide. This report describes the initial field trials of an application known as Autodissemination Augmented by Males (ADAM), utilizing males dusted with pyriproxyfen (PPF). Findings presented here are drawn from both caged and field trial studies. Together, these trials examined for the ability of males to disseminate PPF and to impact field populations. PPF-dusted males were able to effectively deliver lethal doses of PPF to oviposition sites under the conditions tested. Results from field trials in Florida and California demonstrated reduced populations in treated areas, compared to areas where PPF-treated males were not released. These results indicate that the release of PPF-dusted males can impact populations as measured by both reduced larval survival and lower numbers of adult female . We propose the ADAM approach as an addition to existing mosquito control techniques targeting and other mosquitoes that utilize cryptic larval habitats.