Flight activity of insecticide resistant and susceptible Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes in actograph chambers lined with malathion, γ HCH or dieldrin

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Abstract
The activity and resting behaviour of resistant and susceptible Anopheles stephensi Liston were recorded in acoustic actograph chambers lined with residual deposits of malathion, dieldrin or .gamma.HCH. In .gamma.HCH-treated flight chambers, SS and RS mosquitoes became active only after picking up lethal doses of insecticide, which explains why few SS and RS mosquitoes survive release into .gamma.HCH-treated experimental huts. Similar results were obtained in flight chambers treated with dieldrin; however, more mosquitoes would be expected to survive dieldrin under field conditions because resistance to this insecticide is greater than to .gamma.HCH. Mosquitoes in contact with malathion showed a three-phase activity pattern: an initial active phase, an inactive phase, and hyper-activity/convulsions. Initial activity or irritability was especially pronounced in SS and RS but absent in RR mosquitoes. Whether or not irritability would protect RS mosquitoes from malathion would probably depend on the ratio of spraved to unsprayed surfaces in treated huts.