A long worm has been put into a water tank filled with mosquito larvae.
The worm began hunting the mosquito larvae after a brief exploration of the tank.
It's the lesser silver water beetle, also known as Hydrochara affinis, which is a natural enemy of mosquito larvae.
A team of South Korean researchers has developed a technology to mass cultivate the silver water beetle, which is an eco-friendly method to catch mosquitoes.
A silver water beetle eats 600 mosquito larvae per day.
The silver water beetle lives in a similar environment with mosquitoes and can be provided in large numbers. Also, when it grows older, it tends to feed on a wide range of plants, reducing any specific damage to biodiversity.
[Kim Wang-Gyu, professor/researcher, Korea University]
"Chemical pesticides not only kill mosquitoes but also affect other insects."
The research team released the beetle in an artificial pond, and the total number of mosquitoes detected during the experiment was about 600. A year later, the team found the figure had dropped to under 100.
[저작권자(c) YTN 무단전재, 재배포 및 AI 데이터 활용 금지]