Influence of the microencapsulated pheromone from aged infusion as an oviposition medium of the West Nile virus vector Culex pipiens.

The main tendency for the control of West Nile virus vectors, without the presence of disease, is to perform integrated programs minimizing chemicals by using environmentally friendly substances which act as oviposition attractants such as oviposition pheromones and infusions. This is the first time that an aged infusion is combined with aged pheromone (microencapsulated). Initially, three common plants in Greece were evaluated as a potential oviposition medium: Oxalis pes-carpae, Jasminum polyanthum, and Avena barbata. All revealed an excellent oviposition attractancy which was more than 80%. O. pes-carpae was used for further investigation and attractancy over time was also studied. Finally, the combination of the synthetic pheromone (6-acetoxy-5-hexadecanolide) with the O. pes-carpae infusion revealed a synergistic effect only for the first day. This project was a first detection for the potential use of microencapsulated synthetic pheromone with infusion and results are discussed.