Essential oils (EOs) have gained significant attention for their biopesticidal properties in pest management. This study investigates the insecticidal potential of EOs extracted from the aerial parts of three indigenous Artemisia species— Artemisia absinthium , Artemisia arborescens , and Artemisia campestris —collected from various provenances in Morocco. The EOs were tested individually and in combination against Culex pipiens ( C. pipiens ) larvae to explore potential synergistic interactions using a mixture design methodology. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC‐MS) and gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC‐FID) analyses revealed quantitative and qualitative variations in the chemical composition of the oils. The primary constituents of A. absinthium were identified as thujone (32.20 % ± 2.65 % ), camphor (19.95 % ± 2.64 % ), and chamazulene (19.58 % ± 2.33 % ). In A. arborescens , thujone (52.05 % ± 3.84 % ), camphor (10.71 % ± 3.08 % ), and eucalyptol (4.79 % ± 1.53 % ) were the major components, while A. campestris comprised camphor (18.98 % ± 2.65 % ), car‐3‐en‐5‐one (11.25 % ± 2.33 % ), and thujone (6.63 % ± 1.67 % ). When applied individually, all three EOs exhibited significant larvicidal activity against C. pipiens larvae, with A. arborescens showing the highest efficacy (LC ₅₀ 11.11 μ g/mL (5.45 ± 22.62)) compared to A. absinthium (LC ₅₀ : 16.98 μ g/mL (6.73 ± 27.39)) and A. campestris (LC ₅₀ : 19.07 μ g/mL (13.57 ± 23.38)). In mixture experiments, the mixture design outcomes reveal that the ternary formulation comprising 58% A. absinthium , 26% A. arborescens , and 16% A. campestris emerged as the most effective blend, achieving complete larval eradication. This study highlights the potential of Artemisia EO combinations as a sustainable and effective alternative for managing mosquito vectors of disease.

The Asteraceae family is well known for its toxic and repellent activity against mosquitoes. In this study, essential oils (EOs) extracted from the aerial parts of both wild and cultivated Artemisia campestris L. plants were tested for larvicidal activity against Culex pipiens (Diptera: Culicidae), a pest mosquito widely suspected to be the vector responsible for West Nile virus transmission. The research aims at comparing the chemical composition and insecticidal activity of cultivated and wild A. campestris EOs. The EOs were obtained by hydrodistillation from the plants aerial parts and were analyzed using GC-MS. Furthermore, the larviciding experiment was carried out following the standard WHO protocol. The result showed that wild and cultivated plant EOs differed only quantitatively, while the qualitative profile revealed a nearly identical chemical composition. Camphor (18.98), car-3-en-5-one (11.25), thujone (6.36), chrysanthenone (6.24), filifolone (4.56), and borneol (3.56) dominate the wild plant EO. Camphor (21.01), car-3-en-5-one (17), chrysanthenone (10.15), filifolone (7.90), borneol (3.38), and thujone (3.08) are the major compounds of the cultivated plant. Cultivation did not affect the EO production since the yield of the cultivated plant was 0.5±0.1 and 0.6±0.2 for the wild plant. The cultivated A. campestris EO had the highest insecticidal activity (LC₅₀=9.79µg/ml), and no significant difference was noticed between wild and cultivated A. campestris EO in terms of LC₉₀. These findings could pave the way for a new method of producing biocides to control major disease vectors and offer a potential alternative for pest control.

Taxonomic and Ecological Interaction of Leishmaniasis Vectors (Diptera: Psychodidae) in Sefrou Province (Middle Atlas Morocco): An entomological survey was carried out in the locality of Aichoune to conduct a study on sand flies, species composition, and monthly relative abundance. This study is essential for the implementation of integrated vector management control. Insects collection was carried out twice a month from January 2013 to December 2014 by means of adhesive and CDC-type light traps. A total of 5441 sand flies were collected with the predominance of males (a sex ratio=1.89). The sampled specimens consist of seven species divided into two genera: Phlebotomus (99.55) and Sergentomyia (0.44). Phlebotomus sergenti was the dominant species with an average annual proportion of 47.38, followed by P. perniciosus (37.32), P. longicuspis (8,56), P. papatasi (6.23), and P. ariasi (0.05). The genus Sergentomyia was less common (0.44). S.minuta was represented only by 0.36 and S. fallax by 0.07. The species dynamics showed a unimodal evolution for P. sergenti and P. papatasi. They were active from May to October. P. perniciosus presents a trimodal trend showing the most relevant peak in August. The highest number of specimens was collected in June, when the temperature reaches an annual average value of 25.5C. The obtained results will help us better understand the leishmaniasis transmission dynamics in the Aichoune locality and will contribute to the design of a surveillance strategy.

The infections transmitted by sand flies (Diptera, Psychodidae) pose always a real health problem due to the increasing number of cases detected each year and the annual emergence of new leishmaniasis outbreaks. This study evaluated the temporal evolution of six species of sand flies in five stations inventoried between May 2017 and April 2018, in order to determine for the first time the extent of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) transmission in the city of Fez. The monthly impact of Fez sand fly density has been studied using all multivariate statistical analyses, including multiple factor correspondence analysis (MCA), which were performed using XLSTAT and the version of SPSS 20.0 test. Differences between concentrations were considered significant if $P<0.05$ . To better study the results obtained, different ecological indices have been studied. This study showed that these vectors developed in different sectors of the city of Fez. A total of 816 sand flies were collected from five stations in the city, belonging to three species of the genus Phlebotomus (46.82%) and three species of the genus Sergentomyia (53.18%). The seasonal fluctuation of the average density followed a bimodal evolution for the three stations Dhar Richa, Ain Nokbi, and Boujloud. The stations of Ain Nokbi (0.87 ph/m2) and Dhar Richa (0.467 ph/m2) exposed the sites to a high average density with a maximum peak during August (1.965 ph/m2) and July (1.87 Ph/m2), respectively. S. minuta (44.24%), Ph. sergenti (26.96%), Ph. perniciosus (10.78%), and Ph. papatasi (9.07%) were the most qualified species. The calculated P value is above the 5% significance level, so the relative abundance of these species between study sites shows no significant difference. The period of phlebotomy activity of the genus Phlebotomus in Fez lasts seven months from May to November with a bimodal or trimodal evolution and varies according to the species or the surveyed station. The seasonal fluctuation of sand flies could be conditioned by climatic factors where the period of activity of the species coincides with the hot months (May, June, July, and August). We have observed that the temperature factor favors the prevalence of sand flies, while the difference in the relative abundance of species between the sites is related to the difference in the bioecological conditions of each site.