Georgia Category 41 Pest Control – Mosquito Surveillance Practice Test

Insect Growth Regulators mainly work by messing with the hormonal control of molting. They disrupt the timely molt that larvae must undergo to become pupae and then adults. Many IGRs mimic juvenile hormone, which keeps the insect in a larval state and prevents the normal transition to the next developmental stage. As a result, development is altered during the larval molting process, often leading to death or failed metamorphosis.

Egg hatching, adult wing formation, and sperm production are not the primary targets of IGRs. Eggs hatch due to environmental cues and embryo biology, wings form during metamorphosis rather than during the larval molt, and sperm production occurs in adults. IGRs are chosen because they stop mosquitoes from maturing at the larval stage, not because they kill eggs or adult reproductive processes.