![]() Its success relies on the capacity of sterile males to mate with wild females and therefore requires a sufficient number of sterile males of good quality to compete with wild males 28, 29. The SIT is an environment-friendly, species-specific technique releases sterile male insects into a target area which will compete with their wild counterparts to mate with wild females, resulting in a decline of the target insect pest population 27. However, these techniques, involve releasing laboratory-produced (sterile) mosquitoes into a target field site, and their effectiveness may be affected by the extent of adult mosquito predation. Genetic control techniques, such as the sterile insect technique (SIT), are promising tools as components of area-wide integrated management of mosquitoes. ![]() Therefore, investigating adult mosquito predation would offer more biological control options and is also vital to define its potential interactions with genetic control. More broadly, adult mosquitoes may be an essential part of the food resources of terrestrial predators of arthropods such as mantises, known to prey on small flying insects 25, 26. Adult mosquito predators also include bats 21, dragon flies 22, frogs 23, birds 24. Although attention was mainly given to mosquito pre-imago stage predation, recent studies demonstrated that predators of adult mosquitoes, such as spiders and geckos, have a high potential to reduce mosquito populations 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. Predators with high predation rates on mosquito larvae and pupae include fish 10, 11, odonate young instars 12, other mosquito species 13, amphibians 14, and copepods 15. Mainly, predators of the mosquito aquatic life stages were considered 7, 8, 9. Early mosquito control approaches included the use of natural predators. Natural enemies are well known in biocontrol for their beneficial actions of reducing the density of insect pests 6. Therefore, a good knowledge of such interactions in general or regarding a specific control strategy would contribute to developing more effective alternative or complementary vector control methods including biological and genetic techniques. The weakness of the available control strategies is partly due to the lack of comprehensive understanding of biological interactions, including co-evolution mechanisms between mosquito vectors, pathogens and environment, and the role of mosquito vectors in the food chain of living organisms 4, 5. However, their burden on public health is still substantial. Intervention efforts such as environmental sanitation, indoor residual spray, and long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets have contributed to limiting the incidence of these diseases in the last decades 3. With the absence of reliable vaccines for effective prevention, the management of the main vectors appears to be the best strategy of control 3. Malaria, a parasitic infection transmitted by Anopheline mosquitoes, is responsible for more than 409,000 deaths in 2019 1 while dengue fever, a viral infection transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, causes around 40,000 deaths every year 2. Mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue are a significant threat to global health. Further investigations on standardized predation trials may lead to additional quality control tools for irradiated mosquitoes. ![]() ![]() Overall, there was no impact of laboratory treatments of sterile males on the relative risk of predation by the test predators, unless purposely exposed to double the required sterilizing irradiation dose. Predation propensity varied over days for the same individuals and between predator individuals. The selected predators effectively preyed on all mosquito species regardless of the treatment. Subsequently, the effects of chilling, marking, and irradiation, on predation rates were assessed. First, any inherent predation preferences regarding mosquito species and sex were evaluated. albopictus and Anopheles arabiensis mosquitoes in a laboratory setting. The present study investigates the predation propensity of four mantis species ( Phyllocrania paradoxa, Hymenopus coronatus, Blepharopsis mendica, Deroplatys desiccata) and two gecko species ( Phelsuma standingi, P. Therefore, it is vital to understand which treatments are essential in minimizing risks to predation once released. Sterile males undergo several treatments. This technique involves releasing laboratory-produced sterile males into a target field site, and its effectiveness may be affected by the extent of adult mosquito predation. The sterile insect technique is a promising environmentally friendly method for mosquito control. ![]()
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