Pyrethroid susceptibility and behavioral avoidance in Anopheles epiroticus, a malaria vector in Thailand

The physiological susceptibility to insecticides and the behavioral responses of four wild-caught populations of female Anopheles epiroticus to synthetic pyrethroids (deltamethrin, permethrin, and alpha-cypermethrin) were assessed. Test populations were collected from different localities along the eastern coast, Trat (TR), Songkhla (SK), and Surat Thani (ST) and one population from the western coast, Phang Nga (PN). Results showed that all four populations of An. epiroticus were susceptible to all three synthetic pyrethroids tested. Behavioral responses to test compounds were characterized for all four populations using an excito-repellency test system. TR displayed the strongest contact excitation (‘irritancy’) escape response (76.8% exposed to deltamethrin, 74.1% permethrin, and 78.4% alpha-cypermethrin), followed by the PN population (24.4% deltamethrin, 35% permethrin, and 34.4% for alpha-cypermethrin) by rapidly escaping test chambers after direct contact with surfaces treated with each active ingredient compared with match-paired untreated controls. Moderate non-contact repellency responses to all three compounds were observed in the TR population but were comparatively weaker than paired contact tests. Few mosquitoes from the SK and ST populations escaped from test chambers, regardless of insecticide tested or type of trial. We conclude that contact excitation was a major behavioral response in two populations of An. epiroticus, whereas two other populations showed virtually no escape response following exposure to the three pyrethroids. The explanation for these large unexpected differences in avoidance responses between pyrethroid-susceptible populations of the same species is unclear and warrants further investigation.