Larvicidal potential of wild mushroom extracts against Culex quinquefasciatus Say, Aedes aegypti and Anopheles gambiae Giles S.S

Abstract

The crude extracts from six wild mushrooms namely Lactarius densifolius, Lactarius gymnocarpoides, Russula cellulata, Russula kivuensis, Amanita phalloides and Boletus species were evaluated for larvicidal activity against Anopheles gambiae, Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus larvae. Generally, the crude mushroom extracts demonstrated low to high larvicidal activities against all tested mosquito larvae. The L. gymnocarpoides ethanol extract (BM2E) exhibited the highest activity against A. aegypti with LC50 of 10.75 μg/mL after 72 h of exposure. Lactarius densifolius chloroform extract (BM8C) was effective against A. gambiae (LC50 = 91.33 μg/mL) and moderate effective against C. quinquefasciatus (LC50 = 181.16 μg/mL) respectively. Therefore, wild mushrooms can be a potential source of bio-insecticides for commercial mosquito vector management especially in aquatic ecosystems.