Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 19, 2026
Topical Application Bioassay to Quantify Insecticide Toxicity for Mosquitoes and Fruit Flies
Published on: January 19, 2022
The effect of pesticide residue on caged mosquito bioassays
J A S Barber1, Mike Greer, Jamie Coughlin
1J Mulrennan Public Health Entomology Research and Education Center, College of Engineering Science, Technology and Agriculture, Florida A&M University, Panama City 32405, USA.
Abstract:
Wind tunnel experiments showed that secondary pickup of insecticide residue by mosquitoes in cage bioassays had a significant effect on mortality. Cage bioassays using adult Ochlerotatus taeniorhynchus (Wiedemann) investigated the effect of exposure time to a contaminated surface. Cages were dosed in a wind tunnel using the LC50 for naled (0.124 mg a.i./ml) and an LC25 (0.0772 mg a.i./ml) for naled. Half of the bioassay mosquitoes were moved directly into clean cages with the other half remaining in the sprayed, hence contaminated, cage. Treatment mortality was assessed at 8, 15, 30, 60, 120, 240, and 1,440 min postapplication. Cage contamination had a significant effect on mosquito mortality for both the LC25 and LC50 between 15 and 30 min postapplication.
