Assessment of the Impact of Diflubenzuron on the Inhibition of Adult Emergence in Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) from Hormozgan Province, Iran, 2025
-
Saeedeh Ebrahimi
,
Hassan Vatandoost
,
Mohammad Ali Oshaghi
,
Kourosh Azizi
,
Mahnaz Khanavi
,
Seyed Hassan Moosa-Kazemi
Abstract
Background: The presence of Aedes aegypti in Iran and the risk of transmitting viral diseases, such as dengue and Zika, underscore the importance of evaluating effective vector control methods.
Methods: This study investigated the effectiveness of diflubenzuron, an insect growth regulator that inhibits chitin synthesis, in preventing adult emergence of Ae. aegypti larvae from Hormozgan. The concentrations of 0.03, 0.06, 0.12 and 0.24 mg/L of 25% wettable powder formulations of diflubenzuron were used, according to WHO protocols.
Results: Diflubenzuron was highly effective at 0.24 mg/L, achieving 98% emergence inhibition (EI50=0.053 mg/L, EI90=0.146 mg/L). At lower concentrations, e.g., 0.12 mg/L, emergence inhibition decreased to 83%, indicating a clear concentration-dependent reduction in efficacy. Larvae exposed to sublethal doses displayed abnormal movements and reduced responses to stimuli.
Conclusion: This experiment supports diflubenzuron’s potential as an effective larvicide for vector control programs in Iran. However, field trials and resistance monitoring are recommended before widespread implementation.
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2. Yanase T, Otsuka Y, Doi K, Tabaru Y, Arse-rim SK, Sasaki H, Ozbel Y, TOz S, Ueda T, Tsuji N, Amoh Y, Sanjoba C, Cetin H, Hayashida K (2024) Other med¬ically important vectors. In: Sawabe K, Sanjoba C, Higa Y (Eds): Medical Ento¬mology in Asia, Entomology Mono¬graphs, Vol. 1. Springer, Singapore, pp. 149–230.
3. Aghayan SK, Ramezani R, Jafari M, Bah-rami S (2024) Mosquitoes as dangerous intermediaries: communication bridges be¬tween these insects and human health. Int J Travel Med Glob Health. 12(2): 64–74.
4. Tyagi BK, Sarkar M, Kandasamy C, Bhattacharya S (2025) Mosquitoes as Vec¬tors, Pests, and Allergenics. In: Tyagi BK (Ed): Mosquitoes of India. CRC Press, Boca Raton, USA, pp. 173–190.
5. Herath JMK, De Silva WPP, Weeraratne TC, Karunaratne SP (2024) Breeding hab-itat preference of the dengue vector mos-quitoes Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopic-tus from urban, semiurban and rural areas in Kurunegala District, Sri Lanka. J Trop Med. 2024(1): 4123543.
6. Mantilla-Granados JS, Montilla-López K, Sarmiento-Senior D, Chapal-Arcos E, Ve-landia-Romero ML, Calvo E, Morales CA, Castellanos JE (2025) Environmental and anthropic factors influencing Aedes ae¬gypti and Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Cu¬licidae), with emphasis on natural infec¬tion and dissemination: Implications for an emerging vector in Colombia. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 19(4): e0012605.
7. Seid M, Aklilu E, Negash Y, H. Alemayehu D, Melaku K, Mulu A, Animut A (2025) Resting habitat, blood meal source and viral infection rate of Aedes aegypti (Dip-tera: Culicidae) in the Southern Afar Re-gion of Ethiopia. BMC Infect Dis. 25(1): 346.
8. Garud A, Pawar S, Patil MS, Kale SR, Patil S (2024) A scientific review of pesticides: Classification, toxicity, health effects, sus¬tainability and environmental impact. Cu¬reus. 16(8): e67945.
9. Zhou W, Li M, Achal V (2025) A com-prehensive review on environmental and human health impacts of chemical pes¬ti-cide usage. Emerg Contam. 11(1): 100410.
10. Barathi S, Sabapathi N, Kandasamy S, Lee J (2024) Present status of insecticide impacts and eco-friendly approaches for remediation-a review. Environ Res. 240 (1): 117432.
11. Kaur M, Nagpal M, Dhingra GA, Rathee A (2024) Exploring chitin: novel path-ways and structures as promising targets for biopesticides. Z Naturforsch C. 79(5-6): 125–136.
12. Kaur T, Kumar A, Arya H, Kumar (2025) A review on herbal nanoemulsions as lar-vicides, adulticides and growth inhibi¬tors against mosquitoes. Int J Entomol Res. 10(7): 54–60.
13. Araujo SHC, Salinas Jimenez LG, Corrêa MJM, Bohorquez Zapata VL, Oliveira MSS, Fernandes JS, Gomes JM, Aguiar RWS, Santos GR, Valbon WR, Oliveira EE (2025) Diflubenzuron did not affect the abilities of the backswimmer Buenoa tarsalis to survive and prey upon larvae of Aedes aegypti. Insects. 16(4): 435.
14. Reshma V, Manogem E (2024) Effects of flufenoxuron on the male reproductive de¬velopment of Spodoptera mauritia Boisduval (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Phy¬to¬parasitica. 52(4): 74.
15. Giatropoulos A, Bellini R, Pavlopoulos DT, Balatsos G, Karras V, Mourafetis F, Papachristos DP, Karamaouna F, Carrieri M, Veronesi R, Haroutounian SA, Michaelakis A (2022) Efficacy evaluation of oregano essential oil mixed with Bacillus thurin¬giensis israelensis and diflubenzuron against Culex pipiens and Aedes albopictus in road drains of Italy. Insects. 13(11): 977.
16. Micocci M (2024) Advancements in knowledge and approaches towards pyre-throid-free control of mosquitoes, vectors of arbo¬virus¬es. [PhD dissertation]. Facul-ty of Phar¬macy and Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome (La Sapienza), Italy.
17. Chu D, Xu S, Li X, Li H, Miao X, An S, Guan R (2023) Combination of difluben-zuron and RNAi technology to improve the control effect of Helicoverpa armige-ra. Entomol Gen. 44(1): 223-232.
18. Valentina M, Franco L, Tiziana C, Valen-tina L, Sandra U, Romeo B, John V, Dan-iele P (2025) Comparative transcriptom¬ics reveals different profiles between difluben¬zuron‐resistant and‐susceptible phe¬notypes of the mosquito Culex pipiens. Pest Manag Sci. 81(6): 3370–3377.
19. World Health Organization (2022) WHO Guidelines for drinking-water quality. WHO, Geneva.
20. Urmi TJ, Mosharrafa RA, Hossain MJ, Rahman MS, Kadir MF, Islam MR (2023) Frequent outbreaks of dengue fever in South Asian countries-A correspondence analyzing causative factors and ways to avert. Health Sci Rep. 6(10): e1598.
21. Tabassum S, Naeem A, Nazir A, Naeem F, Gill S, Tabassum S (2023) Year-round dengue fever in Pakistan, highlighting the surge amidst ongoing flood havoc and the COVID-19 pandemic: a comprehensive review. Ann Med Surg (Lond). 85(4): 908–912.
22. Majeed S, Akram W, Sufyan M, Abbasi A, Riaz S, Faisal S, Binyameen M, Bashir M, Hassan S, Zafar S, Kucher O, Piven E, Kucher O (2025) Climate change: A major factor in the spread of Aedes ae-gypti (Diptera: Culicidae) and its associ-ated Dengue virus. Insects. 16(5): 513.
23. Jamal MK, Sanaei B, Naderi M, Past V, Abadi SHA, Khazaei R, Esmaeili A, Sadriza¬deh S, Moghimi Sh, Ghiyasi Z (2025) Investigating the recent outbreak of dengue fever in Iran: a systematic re-view. Egypt J Intern Med. 37(1): 1–21.
24. World Health Organization (2016) Monitor¬ing and Managing Insecticide Resistance in Aedes mosquito Populations: interim guidance for entomologists. WHO, Geneva.
25. World Health Organization (2006) Pesti-cides and their application for control of vectors and pests of public health im-portance. WHO, Geneva.
26. World Health Organization (2017) Re-ports of the WHOPES Working Group Meetings. WHO, Geneva.
27. Rahman AU, Khan I, Usman A, Khan H (2024) Evaluation of insect growth reg-ulators (IGRs) as biological pesticides for control of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. J Vector Borne Dis. 61(1): 129–135.
28. Sankar M, Kumar S (2023) A systematic review on the eco-safe management of mos¬quitoes with diflubenzuron: an effec-tive growth regulatory agent. Acta Ecol Sin. 43(1): 11–19.
29. Fournet F, Sannier C, Monteny N (1993) Effects of the insect growth regulators OMS 2017 and diflubenzuron on the re-productive potential of Aedes aegypti. J Am Mosq Control Assoc. 9(4): 426–430.
30. Montaño-Reyes A, Llanderal-Cázares C, Valdez-Carrasco J, Miranda-Perkins K, Sánchez-Arroyo H (2019) Susceptibility and alterations by diflubenzuron in larvae of Aedes aegypti. Arch Insect Biochem Physiol. 102(2): 21604.
31. Silva JJ, Mendes J (2007) Susceptibility of Aedes aegypti (L) to the insect growth regulators diflubenzuron and methoprene in Uberlândia, State of Minas Gerais. Rev Soc Bras Med Trop. 40(6): 612–616.
32. Fansiri T, Pongsiri A, Khongtak P, Nitatsukprasert C, Chittham W, Jaichapor B, Pathawong N, Kijchalao U, Tiang¬trong S, Singkhaimuk P, Ponlawat A (2022) The impact of insect growth regulators on adult emergence inhibition and the fitness of Aedes aegypti field populations in Thailand. Acta Trop. 236: 106695.
33. Sankar M, Yadav D, Kumar S (2024) Eval¬uation of diflubenzuron-verapamil com¬bi¬nation strategy for eco-safe man-agement of Aedes aegypti. Front Physiol. 15: 1476259.
34. Seccacini E, Lucia A, Harburguer L, Zerba E, Licastro S, Masuh H (2008) Effective¬ness of pyriproxyfen and diflubenzuron formulations as larvicides against Aedes aegypti. J Am Mosq Control Assoc. 24 (3): 398–403.
35. Akinwunmi M, Adetoro F, Usman P, Aboderin J (2025) Toxicity of difluben-zuron on juveniles of African brackish water shrimp from lagoon coastline and mosquito larvae from breeding places in a iertiary institution in Lagos, Nigeria. J Appl Sci Environ Manag. 29(4): 1229–1236.
36. Kamal HA, Khater EI (2010) The bio-logical effects of the insect growth reg-ulators; pyriproxyfen and diflubenzuron on the mosquito Aedes aegypti. J Egypt Soc Parasitol. 40(3): 565–574.
37. Marcombe S, Darriet F, Agnew P, Etienne M, Yp-Tcha MM, Yébakima A, Corbel V (2011) Field efficacy of new larvicide products for control of multi-resistant Ae-des aegypti populations in Martinique (French West Indies). Am J Trop Med Hyg. 84(1): 118–126.
38. Francis S, Crawford J, McKenzie S, Camp¬bell T, Wright D, Hamilton T, Huntley-Jones S, Spence S, Belemvire A, Alavi K, Gutierrez CT (2020) Comparative tox¬ici¬ty of larvicides and growth inhibitors on Aedes aegypti from select areas in Ja¬mai¬ca. R Soc Open Sci. 7(3):192041.
39. Belinato TA, Valle D (2015) The impact of selection with diflubenzuron, a chitin synthesis inhibitor, on the fitness of two Brazilian Aedes aegypti field populations. PLoS One. 10(6):e0130719.
2. Yanase T, Otsuka Y, Doi K, Tabaru Y, Arse-rim SK, Sasaki H, Ozbel Y, TOz S, Ueda T, Tsuji N, Amoh Y, Sanjoba C, Cetin H, Hayashida K (2024) Other med¬ically important vectors. In: Sawabe K, Sanjoba C, Higa Y (Eds): Medical Ento¬mology in Asia, Entomology Mono¬graphs, Vol. 1. Springer, Singapore, pp. 149–230.
3. Aghayan SK, Ramezani R, Jafari M, Bah-rami S (2024) Mosquitoes as dangerous intermediaries: communication bridges be¬tween these insects and human health. Int J Travel Med Glob Health. 12(2): 64–74.
4. Tyagi BK, Sarkar M, Kandasamy C, Bhattacharya S (2025) Mosquitoes as Vec¬tors, Pests, and Allergenics. In: Tyagi BK (Ed): Mosquitoes of India. CRC Press, Boca Raton, USA, pp. 173–190.
5. Herath JMK, De Silva WPP, Weeraratne TC, Karunaratne SP (2024) Breeding hab-itat preference of the dengue vector mos-quitoes Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopic-tus from urban, semiurban and rural areas in Kurunegala District, Sri Lanka. J Trop Med. 2024(1): 4123543.
6. Mantilla-Granados JS, Montilla-López K, Sarmiento-Senior D, Chapal-Arcos E, Ve-landia-Romero ML, Calvo E, Morales CA, Castellanos JE (2025) Environmental and anthropic factors influencing Aedes ae¬gypti and Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Cu¬licidae), with emphasis on natural infec¬tion and dissemination: Implications for an emerging vector in Colombia. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 19(4): e0012605.
7. Seid M, Aklilu E, Negash Y, H. Alemayehu D, Melaku K, Mulu A, Animut A (2025) Resting habitat, blood meal source and viral infection rate of Aedes aegypti (Dip-tera: Culicidae) in the Southern Afar Re-gion of Ethiopia. BMC Infect Dis. 25(1): 346.
8. Garud A, Pawar S, Patil MS, Kale SR, Patil S (2024) A scientific review of pesticides: Classification, toxicity, health effects, sus¬tainability and environmental impact. Cu¬reus. 16(8): e67945.
9. Zhou W, Li M, Achal V (2025) A com-prehensive review on environmental and human health impacts of chemical pes¬ti-cide usage. Emerg Contam. 11(1): 100410.
10. Barathi S, Sabapathi N, Kandasamy S, Lee J (2024) Present status of insecticide impacts and eco-friendly approaches for remediation-a review. Environ Res. 240 (1): 117432.
11. Kaur M, Nagpal M, Dhingra GA, Rathee A (2024) Exploring chitin: novel path-ways and structures as promising targets for biopesticides. Z Naturforsch C. 79(5-6): 125–136.
12. Kaur T, Kumar A, Arya H, Kumar (2025) A review on herbal nanoemulsions as lar-vicides, adulticides and growth inhibi¬tors against mosquitoes. Int J Entomol Res. 10(7): 54–60.
13. Araujo SHC, Salinas Jimenez LG, Corrêa MJM, Bohorquez Zapata VL, Oliveira MSS, Fernandes JS, Gomes JM, Aguiar RWS, Santos GR, Valbon WR, Oliveira EE (2025) Diflubenzuron did not affect the abilities of the backswimmer Buenoa tarsalis to survive and prey upon larvae of Aedes aegypti. Insects. 16(4): 435.
14. Reshma V, Manogem E (2024) Effects of flufenoxuron on the male reproductive de¬velopment of Spodoptera mauritia Boisduval (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Phy¬to¬parasitica. 52(4): 74.
15. Giatropoulos A, Bellini R, Pavlopoulos DT, Balatsos G, Karras V, Mourafetis F, Papachristos DP, Karamaouna F, Carrieri M, Veronesi R, Haroutounian SA, Michaelakis A (2022) Efficacy evaluation of oregano essential oil mixed with Bacillus thurin¬giensis israelensis and diflubenzuron against Culex pipiens and Aedes albopictus in road drains of Italy. Insects. 13(11): 977.
16. Micocci M (2024) Advancements in knowledge and approaches towards pyre-throid-free control of mosquitoes, vectors of arbo¬virus¬es. [PhD dissertation]. Facul-ty of Phar¬macy and Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome (La Sapienza), Italy.
17. Chu D, Xu S, Li X, Li H, Miao X, An S, Guan R (2023) Combination of difluben-zuron and RNAi technology to improve the control effect of Helicoverpa armige-ra. Entomol Gen. 44(1): 223-232.
18. Valentina M, Franco L, Tiziana C, Valen-tina L, Sandra U, Romeo B, John V, Dan-iele P (2025) Comparative transcriptom¬ics reveals different profiles between difluben¬zuron‐resistant and‐susceptible phe¬notypes of the mosquito Culex pipiens. Pest Manag Sci. 81(6): 3370–3377.
19. World Health Organization (2022) WHO Guidelines for drinking-water quality. WHO, Geneva.
20. Urmi TJ, Mosharrafa RA, Hossain MJ, Rahman MS, Kadir MF, Islam MR (2023) Frequent outbreaks of dengue fever in South Asian countries-A correspondence analyzing causative factors and ways to avert. Health Sci Rep. 6(10): e1598.
21. Tabassum S, Naeem A, Nazir A, Naeem F, Gill S, Tabassum S (2023) Year-round dengue fever in Pakistan, highlighting the surge amidst ongoing flood havoc and the COVID-19 pandemic: a comprehensive review. Ann Med Surg (Lond). 85(4): 908–912.
22. Majeed S, Akram W, Sufyan M, Abbasi A, Riaz S, Faisal S, Binyameen M, Bashir M, Hassan S, Zafar S, Kucher O, Piven E, Kucher O (2025) Climate change: A major factor in the spread of Aedes ae-gypti (Diptera: Culicidae) and its associ-ated Dengue virus. Insects. 16(5): 513.
23. Jamal MK, Sanaei B, Naderi M, Past V, Abadi SHA, Khazaei R, Esmaeili A, Sadriza¬deh S, Moghimi Sh, Ghiyasi Z (2025) Investigating the recent outbreak of dengue fever in Iran: a systematic re-view. Egypt J Intern Med. 37(1): 1–21.
24. World Health Organization (2016) Monitor¬ing and Managing Insecticide Resistance in Aedes mosquito Populations: interim guidance for entomologists. WHO, Geneva.
25. World Health Organization (2006) Pesti-cides and their application for control of vectors and pests of public health im-portance. WHO, Geneva.
26. World Health Organization (2017) Re-ports of the WHOPES Working Group Meetings. WHO, Geneva.
27. Rahman AU, Khan I, Usman A, Khan H (2024) Evaluation of insect growth reg-ulators (IGRs) as biological pesticides for control of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. J Vector Borne Dis. 61(1): 129–135.
28. Sankar M, Kumar S (2023) A systematic review on the eco-safe management of mos¬quitoes with diflubenzuron: an effec-tive growth regulatory agent. Acta Ecol Sin. 43(1): 11–19.
29. Fournet F, Sannier C, Monteny N (1993) Effects of the insect growth regulators OMS 2017 and diflubenzuron on the re-productive potential of Aedes aegypti. J Am Mosq Control Assoc. 9(4): 426–430.
30. Montaño-Reyes A, Llanderal-Cázares C, Valdez-Carrasco J, Miranda-Perkins K, Sánchez-Arroyo H (2019) Susceptibility and alterations by diflubenzuron in larvae of Aedes aegypti. Arch Insect Biochem Physiol. 102(2): 21604.
31. Silva JJ, Mendes J (2007) Susceptibility of Aedes aegypti (L) to the insect growth regulators diflubenzuron and methoprene in Uberlândia, State of Minas Gerais. Rev Soc Bras Med Trop. 40(6): 612–616.
32. Fansiri T, Pongsiri A, Khongtak P, Nitatsukprasert C, Chittham W, Jaichapor B, Pathawong N, Kijchalao U, Tiang¬trong S, Singkhaimuk P, Ponlawat A (2022) The impact of insect growth regulators on adult emergence inhibition and the fitness of Aedes aegypti field populations in Thailand. Acta Trop. 236: 106695.
33. Sankar M, Yadav D, Kumar S (2024) Eval¬uation of diflubenzuron-verapamil com¬bi¬nation strategy for eco-safe man-agement of Aedes aegypti. Front Physiol. 15: 1476259.
34. Seccacini E, Lucia A, Harburguer L, Zerba E, Licastro S, Masuh H (2008) Effective¬ness of pyriproxyfen and diflubenzuron formulations as larvicides against Aedes aegypti. J Am Mosq Control Assoc. 24 (3): 398–403.
35. Akinwunmi M, Adetoro F, Usman P, Aboderin J (2025) Toxicity of difluben-zuron on juveniles of African brackish water shrimp from lagoon coastline and mosquito larvae from breeding places in a iertiary institution in Lagos, Nigeria. J Appl Sci Environ Manag. 29(4): 1229–1236.
36. Kamal HA, Khater EI (2010) The bio-logical effects of the insect growth reg-ulators; pyriproxyfen and diflubenzuron on the mosquito Aedes aegypti. J Egypt Soc Parasitol. 40(3): 565–574.
37. Marcombe S, Darriet F, Agnew P, Etienne M, Yp-Tcha MM, Yébakima A, Corbel V (2011) Field efficacy of new larvicide products for control of multi-resistant Ae-des aegypti populations in Martinique (French West Indies). Am J Trop Med Hyg. 84(1): 118–126.
38. Francis S, Crawford J, McKenzie S, Camp¬bell T, Wright D, Hamilton T, Huntley-Jones S, Spence S, Belemvire A, Alavi K, Gutierrez CT (2020) Comparative tox¬ici¬ty of larvicides and growth inhibitors on Aedes aegypti from select areas in Ja¬mai¬ca. R Soc Open Sci. 7(3):192041.
39. Belinato TA, Valle D (2015) The impact of selection with diflubenzuron, a chitin synthesis inhibitor, on the fitness of two Brazilian Aedes aegypti field populations. PLoS One. 10(6):e0130719.
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| Issue | Vol 19 No 3 (2025) | |
| Section | Original Article | |
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| Aedes aegypti Invasive mosquito Stegomyia aegypti Insect Growth Regulator Emergence inhibition | ||
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How to Cite
1.
Ebrahimi S, Vatandoost H, Oshaghi MA, Azizi K, Khanavi M, Moosa-Kazemi SH. Assessment of the Impact of Diflubenzuron on the Inhibition of Adult Emergence in Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) from Hormozgan Province, Iran, 2025. J Arthropod Borne Dis. 2026;19(3):269–276.
