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Short Communication
Odonate Nymphs: Generalist Predators and their Potential in the
Management of Dengue Mosquito, Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae)
Waseem Akram 1,*Hafiz Azhar Ali-Khan 2
1Department of Entomology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan
2Institute of Agricultural Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
(Received 18 Nov 2013; accepted 15 Nov 2014)
Abstract
Background: Dengue is amongst the most serious mosquito-borne infectious disease with hot spots in tropical and
subtropical parts of the world. Unfortunately, no licensed vaccine for the disease is currently available in medicine
markets. The only option available is the management of dengue vector mosquito, Aedes aegypti (Diptera:
Culicidae).
Method: Predatory potential of five odonate nymphs namely Anax parthenope,Bradinopyga geminate,Ischnura
forcipata,Rhinocypha quadrimaculata, and Orthetrum sabina were evaluated against the 4th instar larvae of the den-
gue vector mosquito, Aedes aegypti, under laboratory conditions. The consumption of the mosquito larvae was eval-
uated at three water volume levels viz., 1 liter, 2 liter and 3 liter.
Results: The number of Ae. aegypti larvae consumed varied significantly among the five species, and at different
levels of water volume (P< 0.01). However, the interaction between odonate nymphs and the water volumes was
statistically non-significant (P> 0.05). Ischnura forcipata consumed the highest number of Ae. aegypti larvae (n=56)
followed by A. parthenope (n=47) and B. geminate (n=46). The number of larvae consumed was decreased with in-
creasing search area or water volume, and the highest predation was observed at 1-liter water volume.
Conclusion: The odonate nymphs could be a good source of biological agents for the management of the mosquitoes
at larval stages.
Keywords: Biological control, Dragonflies, Damselflies, Mosquitoes, Dengue vectors
Introduction
Dengue is amongst the most serious mos-
quito-borne infectious disease with hot spots
in tropical and subtropical parts of the world.
Unfortunately, no licensed vaccine for the
disease is currently available in medicine mar-
kets (Kovendan et al. 2012). The only option
available is the management of the mosqui-
to, Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae), which
is a vector of deadly diseases like dengue
fever, chikungunya and yellow fever (Khan
and Akram 2013). Different chemical measures
such as indoor residual sprays, larviciding,
insecticide treated bed nets and fogging are
prioritized for the management of dengue
mosquitoes worldwide (Zia et al. 2012), how-
ever, these measures are linked with serious
environmental concerns like the development
of insecticide resistance and environmental
pollution (Bilal et al. 2012). Moreover, recent
reports on the development of insecticide
resistance in different mosquito species in-
cluding dengue vector mosquitoes (Khan et
al. 2011, Rathore et al. 2013) stress the need
to explore alternate measures. Naturally, oc-
curring aquatic predators have been assumed
a significant ecological factor in regulating
different mosquito species. For example, the
predators such as amphibians (Ohba et al.
2010), copepods (Marten and Reid 2007),
crustaceans (Su and Mulla 2002), odonates
(Mandal et al. 2008), water bugs (Aditya et al.
2004), wolf spiders (Futami et al. 2008) and
*Corresponding author: Dr Hafiz Azhar Ali-Khan,
E-mail: azhar_naturalist@yahoo.com
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backswimmers (Rodriguez-Castro et al. 2006)
have shown their tendency to feed on and
regulate different mosquito species in aquat-
ic habitats like ponds and paddy fields
(Kweka et al. 2011).
Of these stated predators, odonates
(Insecta: Odonata) have been explored less
for their predatory potential both in the
Asian and world perspective (Mandal et al.
2008). To the best of authors’ knowledge,
aquatic predators, particularly odonate nymphs
have not been explored to much extent
against mosquitoes in Pakistan. The odonate
nymphs usually co-exist with many mosquito
species immatures, and their long nymphal
stage (1 year or more) and competitive pred-
atory ability (Corbet 1980), offer a good op-
portunity to use them as biological agents.
Therefore, the present study focused on
the comparative evaluation of predatory po-
tential of the different odonate nymphs
against the larvae of Ae. aegypti. The results
presented provide a baseline for the field ex-
periments, and possibility to include these
predators in environment friendly manage-
ment plans for the mosquito control.
Materials and Methods
A field collected population of Ae.
aegypti from Lahore (31° 32′ 59 N; 74° 20′
37 E) was reared under laboratory conditions
(25± 2oC, 65± 5% RH) as described previ-
ously (Khan et al. 2011). Briefly, the mos-
quito larvae and adults were collected from
artificial containers and natural habitats and
reared in the laboratory by standard rearing
procedures. The larvae were reared in steel
trays approximately 3 inch deep and fed on
Tetramin (artificial diet) until the adults
emerged. Early-instar naiads/nymphs of five
odonate species (Insecta: Odonata) namely
Anax parthenope (Family Aeshnidae), Bra-
dinopyga geminate (Libellulidae), Ischnura
forcipata (Coenagrionidae), Rhinocypha quad-
rimaculata (Chlorocyphidae), and Orthetrum
sabina (Libellulidae) were collected from
ponds and rice fields by using aquatic dip
nets. The nymphs were identified by fol-
lowing Fraser (1933), Anjum (1997) and
Nesemann et al. (2011), and were kept in
distilled water under the laboratory condi-
tions. Before predation experiments, the
nymphs were provided Chironomid larvae
for feeding.
A feeding bioassay was performed by
following the methodology of Mandal et al.
(2008) with some modifications. Before
starting the experiment, the nymphs were
starved for a period of 6 hours. A single
nymph of each odonate species was intro-
duced into water bowl (4-liter capacity)
containing distilled water and one hundred
4th instar larvae of Ae. aegypti. The con-
sumption rate of the nymphs was evaluated
at three different water levels viz., 1 liter, 2
liter and 3 liter, and the number of mosquito
larvae consumed was noted after 24 h of the
introduction of the nymphs into the bowl.
The experiment was replicated at six differ-
ent times, using the new nymphs and mos-
quito larvae.
All the data on consumption rate by the
odonate nymphs at three different water lev-
els were analyzed by 2-way analysis of vari-
ance using the software Statistix 8.1v (Ana-
lytical software 2005) and means were com-
pared with the least significant difference
test. P< 0.005 was considered signifant.
Results
The number of Ae. aegypti larvae con-
sumed varied significantly among the five
species of odonate nymphs (F= 144.30, df=
4, 75, P<0.001 ), and at different levels of
water volume (F= 18.32, df= 2, 75, P< 0.001).
However, the interaction between odonate
nymphs and the water volumes was statisti-
cally non-significant (F= 0.32, df= 8, 75, P=
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0.96). Ischnura forcipata consumed the high-
est amount of Ae. aegypti larvae (55.89)
followed by A. parthenope (47.22) and B.
geminate (46.06) (Fig. 1). The number of
larvae consumed by different odonate spe-
cies was decreased with increasing search
area or water volume. The highest consump-
tion of the larvae was observed at 1 liter
water volume (46.90) followed by 2 liter
(44.56) and 3 liter (42.27) volumes (Fig. 2).
Fig. 1. Rate of consumption of 4th instar Aedes aegypti larvae by different odonate nymphs
Fig. 2. Cumulative effect of different different water volumes on the consumption rate of 4th instar Aedes aegypti
larvae by different odonate nymphs
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Discussion
In the present study, predatory potential
of five different odonate nymphs has been
evaluated. The predator-prey relationship
could have a significant impact in an ecosys-
tem by affecting population dynamics and
energy flow through food webs. Predators
could affect prey populations directly through
preyconsumption (Khan et al. 2012).The only
mosquito species, which have been investi-
gated in the present study, is Ae. aegypti.
Recently this species along with Ae.
albopictus played havoc in different parts of
Pakistan. To manage these pests different
measures have been adopted with the major
focus on chemical control. Resultantly, oc-
currence of field evolved resistance in mos-
quitoes and other public health pests have
been reported which stressed the need to ex-
plore alternate management tools (Khan et
al. 2011, Khan et al. 2013).
In the present study, predatory potential
of five different odonate nymphs has been
evaluated. The results showed that the nymphs
were able to consume Ae. aegypti voracious-
ly, however, increasing the volume of water
had a negative effect on the consumption
rate, perhaps due to the evasion tactics of the
mosquito larvae (Bhattacharjee et al. 2009).
Since Ae. aegypti mosquitoes usually lay
eggs and complete immature stages in small
water volumes (Vezzani et al. 2005), the find-
ings of the study are of worth importance.
Previously, some researchers have evaluated
the potential of odonate species against dif-
ferent mosquito species (Mandal et al. 2008,
Kweka et al. 2011) but such studies are rare
in Pakistan. Our results are in agreement with
those of Mandal et al. (2008) who evaluated
different species of odonates against Cx.
quinquefasciatus and found that I. forcipata
was the most voracious feeder of the mos-
quito larvae. They further reported that the
volume of the water had a negative impact
on predation efficiency.
The negative effect of increasing water
volume has also observed with hemipteran
bug species (Saha et al. 2008) and lar-
vivorous fish species (Ghosh et al. 2005,
Bhattacharjee et al. 2009). With increasing
water volume, the aquatic predators possibly
required more time to search, capture and
ultimately consume the mosquito larvae
(Ghosh et al. 2006). In Myanmar (Sebastian
et al. 1990) and India (Mandal et al. 2008)
the augmentative releases of different odonate
species have regulated Ae. aegypti and Cx.
quinquefasciatus mosquitoes, respectively. The
lengthened developmental time of odonate
nymphs (i.e. 1 year or more from egg to
adult) and predation ability (Corbet 1980)
provide an opportunity to use these predators
in the management plans designed for Ae.
aygypti.
Conclusion
Keeping in view the high consumption
rate of the larvae per 24 h, these predators
could be assumed to feed on a good number
of Ae. aegypti larvae during their long nym-
phal stage. Although the species used in the
present study varied in their consumption
rate, all of the species could be considered
for inclusion in the management plan. How-
ever, there is a need to explore the predatory
potential of the species in the field and in
different ecological zones.
Acknowledgements
The authors declare that there is no con-
flict of interests.
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