Semi ‐field evaluation of a modified commercial My Mosquito Deleter larval trap with sticky paper against Aedes aegypti

Aedes aegypti (L.) is a major vector of yellow fever, dengue, and Zika viruses, and its management can be difficult, especially in situations where insecticide usage is restricted and resistance is present. Traps and trapping techniques have mostly been used for monitoring populations of adult mosquitoes, but several commercially available traps have been evaluated and used to reduce nuisance populations of adult mosquitoes (Kline 2006). Suppression ofAe. aegypti, in particular, requires a suite of integrated control measures. One measure gaining more attention is to attract and kill gravid females by exploiting their oviposition behavior. Recently, a commercial larval trap for control ofCulex mosquito larvae has been developed and marketed. The commercial brand name is My Mosquito Deleter (MMD; Destin, FL). When gravid femaleCulex mosquitoes lay their eggs in the MMD larval trap filled with water, the larvae after hatching from eggs will fall downward through the MMD's baffle system. The mosquito larvae cannot come to the surface due to the physical barrier from the baffle ring and black cone, resulting in larval mortality. During the preliminary experiment with the original MMD trap full of water, no adult mosquitoes were collected when larval mosquitoes were commonly recorded, because the gravid mosquitoes flew away after they laid their eggs. In order to catch gravidAedes mosquitoes when they come to the trap to lay their eggs on water within the containers, we modified t...
Source: Journal of Vector Ecology - Category: Biology Authors: Tags: Scientific Note Source Type: research