Bioactivity and Chemical Compositions of Essential Oil Extracted from Illicium verum against Mosquitoes

To find environment-friendly and low pest resistance natural mosquitocide, The insecticidal activity of the essential oil extracted from fructification ofIllicium verumagainstAedes albopictusandCulex pipiens quinquefasciatuswere investigated. The compositions of this oil was analyzed by GC-MS. The results are given as follows, The 24-h LC50values ofIllicium verumessential oil for I, II, III, IV-instar larvae and pupa ofAedes albopictus/Culex pipiens quinquefasciatuswere 4.93/2.04, 8.36/2.96, 11.88/8.42, 16.10/13.13 and 42.31/75.12 μg·mL-1, respectively. A total of 18 compounds identified fromIllicium verumoil, the major volatile components were trans-anethole with the peak area percentage of 94.8%, followed by 1-(3-methyl-2-butenoxy)-4- (1-propenyl) benzene (3.2%), estragole (0.4%), linalool (0.3%) and limonene (0.3%). The results indicates thatIllicium verumoil can be developed into a botanical mosquitocide.