Larvicidal Activity of Leaf Extract of Millingtonia Hortensis (Family: Bignoniaceae) Against Anopheles Stephensi, Culex Quinquefasciatus and Aedes Aegypti (Short Research Communications‪)‬

Mosquitoes are the principal vectors of malaria and other vector borne diseases and contribute to major disease burden in India. Disease transmission can be interrupted by controlling the vectors using various methods. However, the extensive and unbalanced use of chemical insecticides have created problems like enhancing resistance of mosquito population to synthetic insecticides (1,2), pollution of environment and adverse effects on the non-target flora and fauna inhabiting the same aquatic habitat. These steadily growing problems, demand an intensive search for new products that are environmentally safe, target-specific and degradable. The co-evolution of plants with insects have equipped them with a plethora of chemical defences which can be used against insects. Since botanicals are less likely to cause ecological damage, a large number of plants have been screened for their insecticidal activities against mosquitoes and some of these have been found to be promising (3-8).