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Predatory potential of Nepa cinerea against mosquito larvae in laboratory

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1. C('Immun. [)b. 36 (2) 20[>4: i05

Predatory Potential of Nepa cinerea against Mosquito Larvae in

. Laboratory Conditions
R.K. Singh· and s.P. Singh·
(Received/or publication: Nov 2003)
ABSTRACT
Biocontrol potential of nepidae bug, Nepa cinerea against immature
stages of Anopheles stephensi, Anopheles culicifacies. Culex
quinque/asciatus and Aedes aegypt; was studied under laboratory
con,:litions. It was found thatN. cinerea had the highest predation against
An. stephens; followed by An. culicifacies, Cx. quinquefasciatus and Ae.
aegypti. From the analysis, it was found that N. cinerea has good
predation efficacy. It can be used as a biological control agent to control
of mosquito breeding in integrated disease vector control programme.
Key Words:- Nepa cinerea, Anopheles stephens;, Anopheles culicifacies, CUlex
qu;nque/asciatus, Aedes aegypti, biocontrol.

INTRODUCTION cuts or total ban in use of insecticides in

Malaria has become a serious problem in
our country, a large parts of India are
endemic for malaria including rural areas,
about 350 million people are being infected
from malaria every year. The control of
malaria vector relies basically on the
spraying ofresidual insecticides as a means
to interrupt malaria transmission which is
beset with many problems such as vector
resistance, environmental pollution and
other deleterious effects.· Environmental
scientists are seriously concerned about the
massive use ofinsecticides, which is taking
place in public health almost on a permanent
basis. As a result there is a demand for major
*Malaria Reaserch Centre (lCMR), ll-Sham Nath Marg, Delhi-54
malaria control.
As a result there is more emphasis
on non-insecticidal methods ofcontrol and
one ofthe method receiving emphasis is the
use ofbiocontrol agents. I-2 Larvivorous fish,
bacilli, nematodes, fungi, bugs, Cyclops
have been tested and larvivorous fish and
bacilli applied on aquatic stages ofmalaria
vectors in the field. 3- '6 Under the alternative
strategy ofmalaria control by means ofbio­
environmental improvement techniques,
primary importance is given to anti-larval
operations. Laboratory study was started
with the aimed to control mosquito breeding
by bio-environmental methods with out the
--
------
-""­ 106
use of insecticides. This paper reports the
predatory potential of nepidaebugs(Plate/lOol)
studied in the laboratory conditions to tind
out it is suitability for biological control of
-----
mosquitoes.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The water scorpions, Nepa cinerea (family
-nepidae) were collected with the help of
dipper and strainer or net from pond of
Burari and Bhalswa lake north-east of Delhi,
and released in an aquarium with dimension
Plate No.1: Nepidae bugs, Nepa cinerea
of60x30x38 cm and water was tilled up to
15 cm for maintaining them live. This water
contained protozoans, crustaceans, water
fleas, water lice, small insect larvae and
planktonic algae, which are natural source
of food for nepidae bugs. After collection
bugs were identified for the species and
measured. Since, it is difficult to rear
nepidae bugs under laboratory conditions,
bugs of different sizes were brought from
the field and maintained in the aquarium.
Three different size of nepidae bugs were
 Prf'tialory Polential u(Xepa cinerea agllinst Mosquito Larval' 107

Table 1 : Predatory potential of Nepidae bugs, Nepa cinerea on Anopheles

step/lens;, Anopheles culicijacies, Culex quinque/asciatus and Aedes aegypti
separately (in 24 hours).

Nepidae bug Offered Avarege Larvae consumption in 24 hours

Size in em larvae/pupae Anopheles Anopheles Culex Aedes
stephensi cu/icifacies quinquefasciatus aegypti
/2.00 50 37.41 33.23 15.78 11.45
1.50 50 28.87 29.15 11.56 10.11
1.00 SO 1/.60 18.31 10.82 10.42

used in the experiments. Mosquito larvae
were provided as a supplementary food and
required conditions for the nepidae bugs.
All stages of mosquito larvae of An.
stephensi, An. culicijacies, Cx.
quinquefasciatus andAe. aegypti used in the
experiments, were obtained from insectories
being maintained at the Malaria Research
Centre. For determining predatory potential
ofN. cinerea, a series of experiments were
conducted in the laboratory. Plastic bowls
of 500-ml capacity containing 300 ml of
water with larvae food and depth of water
approx 3.5 cm. Observations on prey
mortality were made every 24 hours, by
counting and recording of dead mosquito
larvae whose haemolymph had been
sucked. All dead mosquito larvae were
replenished after recording mortality.
. The first set ofexperiment was done
to find out average feeding rate of nepidae
bug, N. cinerea by offering immature stages
of An. stephensi, An. culicifacies, Cx.
qu;nquefasciatus and Ae. aegypti. Fifty prey
(late IIIIIV stages larvae and pupae) of a
particular instar were provided to each size
ofnepidae bug. Each size ofN. cinerea was
studied with twenty replicates each
separately for predation against each
mosquito stage and species. During the
experiments predation on Anopheles larvae
was apparently higher then Aedes & Culex.
Figures of average feeding rate have been
sho~ in (Table no. I).
The second set of experiment was
performed to study the comparative prey
preference by N. cinerea on different
immature stages of mosquitoes, when An.
stephens;, Cx. quinquefasdatus and Ae.
aegyptiwere offered together. One bug (size
2.00 cm) was allowed 20 prey ofeach stage
(1 st instar larvae through pupae) ofthe three
mosquito species. During the experiment
ten replications were done for each
experiments.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
It was observed that the nepidae bugs feed
and rest on water surface with help of
planktonic algae and obtain the air from
water surface. These bugs swim on water
surface and the fore legs of nepidae bugs
108 R K Singh ami S. F Singh

Table 2 : Predation of Nepidae bugs, Nepa cinerea (Size 2.00cm) on different

mosquito species when offered together (in 24 hours).
Offered Avarege predation on immature stages of mosquitoes in 24 hours
lan-ae/pupae Anopheles Culex Aedes aegypti Total average
step/,ens; qumquefasciatus Predation.
1st instar 00.0 00.0 00.0 00.0
lInd instar 00.8 00.6 00.4 01.8
IIIrd instor 18.4 11.6 01.8 31.8
IVth instor 17.1 10.2 01.9 29.2
Pupae 13.6 08.6 05.2 27.4

are modified for grasping the prey and used
in capturing to prey and other legs are used
in walking on the surface of water. Result
of predatory potential of N. cinerea on
immature stages of An. stephensi. An.
culicifacies, Cx. quinquejasciatus and Ae.
aegypti when offered separately in the first
set ofexperiment, indicate that the feeding
rate of the bug was increasing along with
the size of the bug. The predation of bug
(size 2.00 cm) was on 37.41 An. stephensi.
33.23 on An. culicifacies, 15.78 on Cx.
quinquejasciatus and 11.45 on Ae. aegypti
while predation ofbug (size 1.00 cm) 17.60.
18.31, to.82 and 10.42 respectively. (Table
1).
The results of comparative prey
choice of nepidae bug against different
stages of An. stephensi. Cx.
quinquefasciatus and Ae. aegypti. when
offered together in the second set of
experiment have been shown in (Table 2).
The maximum feeding rate of the bug was
on IIIrd stage larvae ofAn. stephens; (18.4)
and minimum on lind stage larvae ofAedes
aegypt; (00.4) and no predation was on 1st
instar mosquito larvae of all mosquito
species. These results indicated that N.
cinerea bugs preferred Anopheles larvae,
because the bug is a water surface feeder
and its preference is found to be more on
Anopheles larvae which remain parallel to
the water surface than Culex and Aedes, and
the differences in feeding zones i. e.
Anopheles larvae remain paraJlel to the
water surface, while Culex and Aedes larvae
remain below the water surface. The reason
of no predation by bug on 1st stage larvae
is probably due to their much smaller size,
which can not be easily captured by the bug.
Thus, the size of prey in relation to the
predator is also important in influencing the
predation rate by nepidae bug. Result ofthis
study showed that Nepa cinerea has good
fl'

I.

t
Predatory Polenljat ofNepa cinerea againsl Mosquito Larvae 109

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r[ Laboratory studies on the predatory

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Therefore, further detailed studies in field 6.
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t ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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t We are grateful to Dr. V.P. Sharma,

Emeritus Medical Scientist of ICMR and
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t Former Director, Malaria Research Centre,

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t thankful to Zoological Survey of India for

insects identification and Mr. Veer Pal
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