A rapid knockdown effect of Penicillium citrinum for control of the mosquito Culex quinquefasciatus in Thailand.

Twenty local isolates of entomopathogenic fungi were determined for control of the larvae and adults of Culex quinquefasciatus. In a laboratory experiment, a Penicillium sp. CM-010 caused 100% mortality of third-instar larvae within 2 h using a conidial suspension of 1 × 10⁶ conidia ml⁻¹. Its LC₅₀ was 3 × 10⁵ conidia ml⁻¹, and the lethal time (LT₅₀) was 1.06 h. Cloning and sequencing of its internal transcribed spacer region indicated that this Penicillium species is Penicillium citrinum (100% identity in 434 bp). Mortality of the adult was highest with Aspergillus flavus CM-011 followed with Metarhizium anisopliae CKM-048 from 1 × 10⁹ conidia ml⁻¹. P. citrinum CM-010 at 1 × 10⁶ conidia ml⁻¹ killed 100% larvae within 2 h while Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis at 5 ITU ml⁻¹ required 24 h. This P. citrinum CM-010 also greatly reduced survival of C. quinquefasciatus larvae in an unreplicated field test. Light and transmission electron micrographs showed that the fungal conidia were ingested by the larvae and deposited in the gut. The metabolite patulin was produced by P. citrinum CM-010 instead of citrinin.