Actividad parasitaria de Romanomermis iyengari (Nematoda, Mermithidae) en criaderos naturales de larvas de mosquito

Resum

Parasitic activity of Romanomermis iyengari (Nematoda, Mermithidae) in natural breeding sites of mosquito larvae
The preparasitic stage of the mermithid nematode Romanomermis iyengari (Welch, 1964) was released on July 1991 at dosage rate of 1000 specimen per square metre, to test the effect of the nematode on the larval stages of mosquitoes. The results indicated that 80-100% of Anopheles albimanus Wiedeman, 1821, Culex nigripalpus Theobald, 1901 and Uranotaenia sapphirina (Oster-Sacken, 1868) larvae and 75-78% of Culex quinquefasciatus Say, 1823 larvae were infected by R. iyengari and marked reductions in host populations were observed seven days post-treatment. A temporary recycling was determined on August 1991, one month after the applications, in at least one of the reservoirs and an observation on December 1991 revealed that the worms greatly reduced the larval populations. These data suggest the potential use of R. iyengari against mosquito larvae in the tropical conditions of Cuba.