Role of anuran tadpoles as biological control for dengue larvae

Abstract

Dengue is a viral disease caused by Aedes mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) and cause serious illness in people community living in tropics. It is able to cause bundles of symptoms and may cause bleeding internally leading to death of the patient. Currently there is no immunization against dengue disorder but the most broadly utilized techniques for control of mosquitoes are usage of insecticides and biological control. Present study has been designed to observe and compare the consumption of dengue mosquito larvae by two anuran species, Common Skittering Frog (Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis) and South-east Asian Toad (Duttaphrynus melanostictus) tadpoles inhabiting Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The tadpoles and dengue larvae were collected from ponds and pools using dip nets. Six trails were carried with anuran species of common skittering frog and South-east Asian toad. Each trail was replicated thrice. The Kruskal-Wallis test present that the total number of consumed dengue larvae among various trials between two species (Common Skittering Frog and South-east Asian Toad) did not differ-significantly (P=0.26) and (P=0.08), while the Wilcoxon test showed that the number of consumed dengue larvae by tadpoles of the two anuran species was P=0.08 which also did not differ significantly. Therefore it was concluded that the South-east Asian toad is better in the consumption of dengue mosquito larvae as compared to common skittering frog.