Aedes aegypti male as a vector of Metarhizium anisopliae conidia

This study show a laboratory investigation about infection effects of Metarhizium anisopliae on fecundity and survival in Aedes aegypti females, using Aedes aegypti males as conidia vector. We applied a dose of 6 x 108 conidia/ml on material that served as a mosquito resting site. The life time of the fungus-contaminated females mosquitoes was significantly reduced compared with the non-contaminated females mosquitoes. LT50-values of females exposed to contaminated males were 9.56 ± 0.69 days with 26.7% of sporulation. In the case of fecundity, the females infected oviposited significantly less that the females non-infected with 23.3 ± 6.42 eggs/ female and 76.32 ± 1.50 eggs/ female respectively. These results indicate that males infected with Metarhizium anisopliae conidia can disseminate conidia to females in the copulatory period , altered biological capacities of Aedes aegypti. This perspective can release new strategies of biological control to reduce natural population of this vector.