Bioactivity and Chemical Compositions of Essential Oil Extracted from <i>Illicium verum</i> against Mosquitoes

To find environment-friendly and low pest resistance natural mosquitocide, The insecticidal activity of the essential oil extracted from fructification of Illicium verum against Aedes albopictus and Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus were investigated. The compositions of this oil was analyzed by GC-MS. The results are given as follows, The 24-h LC 50 values of Illicium verum essential oil for I, II, III, IV-instar larvae and pupa of Aedes albopictus / Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus were 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 from Illicium verum oil, 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 that Illicium verum oil can be developed into a botanical mosquitocide.