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How were odonate larvae used to help interrupt dengue transmission in Myanmar?
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Odonata
Male jewelwing damselfly (Calopteryx splendens).
In Myanmar, odonate larvae have been used successfully to interrupt the transmission of dengue, a disease spread by mosquitoes.1
Because both adult and larval odonates are voracious, indiscriminate predators, the larvae serve as a natural biological control agent. By inhabiting the same freshwater environments where mosquitoes breed, the larvae consume large numbers of mosquito larvae, thereby reducing the population of the disease-carrying insects.1