Larvicidal activity of selected aloe species against Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culiciade)

Management of mosquito vectors by current classes of mosquitocides is relatively ineffective and necessitates prospecting for novel insecticides with different modes of action. Larvicidal activities of 15 crude extracts from three geographically isolated Aloe ngongensis (Christian), Aloe turkanensis (Christian), and Aloe fibrosa (Lavranos & L.E.Newton) (Xanthorrhoeaceae) species (five each) were evaluated against Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus in Hasselquist) (Diptera: Culiciade L.) yellow fever mosquito. Freshly collected leaves were separately shade-dried to constant weight at room temperature (25 ± 2°C) and powdered. Each powder was macerated in solvents of increasing polarity (hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, acetone, and methanol) for 72 h and subsequently filtered. Third-instar larvae (n = 25) of the mosquito were exposed to the extracts at different concentrations for 24 h to establish dose response relationships. All the fractions of A. ngongensis were active below 1 mg/ml except A. fibrosa and A. turkanensis. The highest activity (LC50) mg/ml was obtained with extracts of A. fibrosa hexane (0.05 [0.04-0.06]), followed by A. ngongensis hexane (0.11 [0.08-0.15]) and A. turkanensis ethyl acetate (0.11 [0.09-0.12]). The activities are apparently Aloe species specific and extraction solvent dependent. These findings suggest that extracts from selected Aloe species have mosquitocidal principles that can be exploited in development of new insecticides.