Toxicity of Rose Bengal to Various Instars of Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus and Aedes triseriatus

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Abstract
Treatment of water containing mosquito larvae with rose bengal and subsequent exposure to visible light causes mortality within hours. The light-initiated mortality is a function of dye concentration and exposure time. The larvae of the Culex species are more susceptible to rose bengal than the larvae of the Aedes species, i.e., 4th-instar Aedes LT 50 values were from 5–10 times higher than those for Culex over all concentrations. Earlier instar larvae exhibited a higher degree of response to rose bengal than the later instars. First-instar larvae are up to 20 times more quickly killed than 4th-instar larvae. Physiological and morphological abnormalities occurred resulting from larval treatment with rose bengal which appeared to involve the improper formation of chitin in the pupal stage.