BIOLOGICAL CONTROL OF MOSQUITOES LARVAE CULEX QUIUQUEFASIATUS UNDER LABORATORY CONDITIONS1Haroon Hamid Aleoia, Rabah Hassan Saady and Suhaib Serri ShikerAbstract This study was conducted to study predatory efficiency and functional response of females fish Gambusia affinis, when feeding on different densities of larvae stages of mosquitoes Culex quiuquefasiatus. Larval stages of mosquitoes were treated with predators results were observed after 24 houres, treatment were conducted at 25 ± 2 °C temperature and humidity of 65% ± 5 and 12 hours of illumination. Fish Gambusia affinus, showed with 5 larvae from the first stage an average daily consumption of 5.00±1.22 larvae/day while 20 larvae of the first stage had an average daily consumption of 16.4 ± 3.17 larva / day, while 5 larvae of the fourth stage the average daily consumption was 3.5± 1.82 larvae / day and 20 larvae from the fourth stage the average daily consumption was 14.5 ± 2.52 larva/day. The increased funtional respone With increased prey density makes us classified the fish Gambusia affinis predator as type II of Holling (1959) division. The results of the study of the time taken by the predator in the search larvae prey for of the first and fourth stages for mosquitoes Culex quiuquefasiatus larvae that with increasing prey density of the rate from 5 to 20 larvae / predator / day led to a gradual decrease in the time of search forprey. |