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Poster Session

Larval Control

Poster Session

P-31 - Mass Rearing Techniques of Toxorhynchites rutilus for Use in Operations in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Wednesday, March 5, 2025
12:15 PM – 1:45 PM AST
Location: Hall A
Abstract: Biological Control agents have extensively been used over the years in New Orleans. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Gambusia affinis, mosquito fish were used extensively in abandoned swimming pools and ponds in New Orleans. Cyclopoida copepods, have been used in a limited capacity in permanent water containers such as rain barrels and vases in cemeteries. We now aim to expand our biological program with Toxorhynchites rutilus mosquitoes, known for their predaceous larvae that prey on other mosquito species. They offer a promising avenue for operational biological control. Efficient mass-rearing techniques are essential for implementing and maintaining large-scale programs utilizing Tx. rutilus. Optimizing environmental conditions, such as temperature, humidity, and diet, are critical to ensuring high survival and reproduction rates of larvae. Larvae are reared in both isolation and communal trays, with isolation trays receiving three types of food (Panagrellus redivivus, Dero digitata, and frozen Chironomus plumosus) during development and communal trays receiving Aedes aegypti larvae and frozen Chironomus plumosus. Isolation rearing trays allow for careful monitoring of individual larvae, reducing competition and cannibalism. Communal trays offer a more scalable rearing approach, though with higher risks of competition among larvae. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages, yet both can be tailored to suit programmatic needs. Implementing both rearing methods provides flexibility to ensure population strength is at the maximum threshold for multiple and repeated releases. Cryptic containers are a concern in New Orleans, as they are suitable habitats for mosquito species of medical importance. Toxorhynchites rutilus can help manage these populations making them an integral part of the integrated pest management toolbox.