Plants have been used since ancient times to repel/kill blood-sucking insects in the human history and even now,in many parts of the world people are practicing plants substances to repel/kill the mosquitoes and other bloodsucking insects. The phytochemicals derived from plant sources can act as larvicides, insect growth regulators,repellents and ovipositional attractants. Mosquitoes in the larval stage are attractive targets for pesticides becausemosquitoes breed in water, and thus, it is easy to deal with them in this habitat. The use of conventional pesticidesin the water sources, however, introduces many risks to people and/or the environment. Natural pesticides,especially those derived from plants, are more promising in this aspect. The present study assessed the role oflarvicidal activities of various solvent extracts (viz. hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, acetone and methanol) of fiftydifferent important medicinal plants. Different plant parts such as leaf, rhizome, bulb, stem and root bark, wholeplant and essential oil showed significant larvicidal properties against different mosquito vectors viz., An. stephensi,Ae. aegypti and Cx. quinquefasciatus, P. duboscqi, An. aambiae, A. fluviatilis etc. This review may open the possibilityfor further investigations of the efficacy of larvicidal properties of natural product extracts.

Plants have been used since ancient times to repel/kill blood-sucking insects in the human history and even now,in many parts of the world people are practicing plants substances to repel/kill the mosquitoes and other bloodsucking insects. The phytochemicals derived from plant sources can act as larvicides, insect growth regulators,repellents and ovipositional attractants. Mosquitoes in the larval stage are attractive targets for pesticides becausemosquitoes breed in water, and thus, it is easy to deal with them in this habitat. The use of conventional pesticidesin the water sources, however, introduces many risks to people and/or the environment. Natural pesticides,especially those derived from plants, are more promising in this aspect. The present study assessed the role oflarvicidal activities of various solvent extracts (viz. hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, acetone and methanol) of fiftydifferent important medicinal plants. Different plant parts such as leaf, rhizome, bulb, stem and root bark, wholeplant and essential oil showed significant larvicidal properties against different mosquito vectors viz., An. stephensi,Ae. aegypti and Cx. quinquefasciatus, P. duboscqi, An. aambiae, A. fluviatilis etc. This review may open the possibilityfor further investigations of the efficacy of larvicidal properties of natural product extracts.