Mosquito (Aedes taeniorhynchus) resistance to methoprene in an isolated habitat

Salt-marsh mosquitoes (Aedes taeniorhynchus), collected on 2 barrier islands in Lee County, Florida, that had been treated from 1989 to 1994 with 150-day methoprene briquets, were bioassayed with technical s-methoprene in the laboratory. Susceptibility of the indigenous Captiva strain (median lethal concentration [LC50] estimate, 6.71 ppb) collected from Captiva Island was 14.9-fold lower than the naive Flamingo strain (LC50 estimate, 0.45 ppb) from Everglades National Park. The Lover's Key strain (LC50 estimate, 6.66 ppb) was 14.8-fold less susceptible than the naive strain. Determinations of the susceptibility of nearby foci of the mainland mosquitoes exposed in the past several years to methoprene have not been completed, but probit analysis of laboratory exposures revealed that the only mainland strain tested (Burnt Store) was no less susceptible (1.06-fold) than the naive Flamingo strain. These findings support the theory that the observed resistance might be restricted to the barrier islands. The known resistance foci (generated with briquet formulations) are located west of the mainland where there is minimal likelihood of inflow of genome from the mainland. On the other hand, the mainland mosquitoes, which were exposed to liquid formulations of methoprene from 1987 to 1994, are believed to have substantial gene flow between exposed and nonexposed populations and thus a reduced likelihood of selection for resistance.