ORIGINAL PAPER Tackling the growing threat of dengue: Phyllanthus niruri-mediated synthesis of silver nanoparticles and their mosquitocidal properties against the dengue vector Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) Udaiyan Suresh & Kadarkarai Murugan & Giovanni Benelli & Marcello Nicoletti & Donald R. Barnard & Chellasamy Panneerselvam & Palanisamy Mahesh Kumar & Jayapal Subramaniam & Devakumar Dinesh & Balamurugan Chandramohan Received: 21 January 2015 /Accepted: 22 January 2015 /Published online: 12 February 2015 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015 Abstract Mosquitoes are vectors of devastating pathogens and parasites, causing millions of deaths every year. Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral infection found in tropical and sub- tropical regions around the world. Recently, transmission has strongly increased in urban and semiurban areas, becoming a major international public health concern. Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) is the primary vector of dengue. The use of synthetic insecticides to control Aedes mosquitoes lead to high operational costs and adverse nontarget effects. In this scenario, eco-friendly control tools are a priority. We proposed a novel method to synthesize silver nanoparticles using the aqueous leaf extract of Phyllanthus niruri, a cheap and non- toxic material. The UV–vis spectrum of the aqueous medium containing silver nanostructures showed a peak at 420 nm corresponding to the surface plasmon resonance band of nano- particles. SEM analyses of the synthesized nanoparticles showed a mean size of 30–60 nm. EDX spectrum showed the chemical composition of the synthesized nanoparticles. XRD highlighted that the nanoparticles are crystalline in na- ture with face-centered cubic geometry. Fourier transform in- frared spectroscopy (FTIR) of nanoparticles exhibited promi- nent peaks 3,327.63, 2,125.87, 1,637.89, 644.35, 597.41, and 554.63 cm -1 . In laboratory assays, the aqueous extract of P. niruri was toxic against larval instars (I–IV) and pupae of A. aegypti. LC 50 was 158.24 ppm (I), 183.20 ppm (II), 210.53 ppm (III), 210.53 ppm (IV), and 358.08 ppm (pupae). P. niruri-synthesized nanoparticles were highly effective against A. aegypti, with LC 50 of 3.90 ppm (I), 5.01 ppm (II), 6.2 ppm (III), 8.9 ppm (IV), and 13.04 ppm (pupae). In the field, the application of silver nanoparticles (10×LC 50 ) lead to A. aegypti larval reduction of 47.6 %, 76.7 % and 100 %, after 24, 48, and 72 h, while the P. niruri extract lead to 39.9 %, 69.2 % and 100 % of reduction, respectively. In adulticidal experiments, P. niruri extract and nanoparticles showed LC 50 and LC 90 of 174.14 and 6.68 ppm and 422.29 and 23.58 ppm, respectively. Overall, this study highlights that the possibility Parasitol Res (2015) 114:1551–1562 DOI 10.1007/s00436-015-4339-9 Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00436-015-4339-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. U. Suresh : K. Murugan : C. Panneerselvam : P. M. Kumar : J. Subramaniam : D. Dinesh : B. Chandramohan Division of Entomology, Department of Zoology, School of Life Sciences, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore 641046, Tamil Nadu, India K. Murugan e-mail: kmvvkg@gmail.com G. Benelli (*) Insect Behavior Group, Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, via del Borghetto 80, 56124 Pisa, Italy e-mail: g.benelli@sssup.it G. Benelli e-mail: benelli.giovanni@gmail.com M. Nicoletti Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy D. R. Barnard Center for Medical, Agricultural, and Veterinary Entomology, USDA-ARS, 1600 SW 23rd Drive, Gainesville, FL 32608, USA