An Improved Trap to Capture Adult Container-Inhabiting Mosquitoes

Roberto Barrera, Andrew J Mackay, Manuel Amador
2013 Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association  
Although dengue viruses are thought to be transmitted by Aedes aegypti in Puerto Rico, Aedes mediovittatus, the Caribbean tree hole mosquito, is also a potential vector. This species is native to the Greater Antilles and has been shown to be a competent vector of dengue viruses in the laboratory. Consequently, it has been suggested that Ae. mediovittatus could be acting as a secondary vector or virus reservoir. This study was part of an ongoing investigation into this, and it aimed to determine
more » ... whether BG-Sentinel traps (BGS traps) could be used to collect adults of this mosquito and could be modified to increase the number of captures of this species in the field. We conducted experiments to test the relative attractiveness of BGS traps to Ae. mediovittatus and Ae. aegypti and explored the effects of chemical lures (BG-Lure, CO 2 , octenol) and optical properties (color, size) on the capture rates of BGS traps in a large, outdoor cage in San Juan city, Puerto Rico. We also conducted field tests to compare modified BGS traps with the original traps in a rural community in Patillas municipality, Puerto Rico. Results obtained from the large, outdoor cage experiments indicated that trap captures of both mosquito species could be significantly enhanced by using black instead of white BGS traps combined with BG-Lure. Field experiments revealed that the modified traps captured a significantly greater number of Ae. aegypti, Ae. mediovittatus, and Culex quinquefasciatus, with greater sensitivity for the latter 2 species, and also captured a larger number of mosquito species and a smaller ratio of Ae. aegypti to Ae. mediovittatus, with greater than expected species co-occurrences. or outdoors to collect adults of these species. However, both methods have the disadvantage of being labor intensive and dependent on the skill and effort of the collector to trap mosquitoes. Several fan-operated traps have been specifically developed to capture Ae. aegypti adults (Fay 1968 , Fay and Prince 1970 , Wilton and Kloter 1985 , which take advantage of the propensity of this species to be attracted to dark objects. Among these traps, the Fay-Prince trap has been the most widely used in field studies, but this trap has the disadvantage of being heavy and bulky, thus preventing its deployment in sufficient numbers to enable reliable estimation of mosquito populations. Jensen et al. (1994) showed that the bidirectional Fay-Prince trap (contrasting shiny black and white colors) captured more Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus than the modified omnidirectional Fay-Prince trap (dark color), the duplex cone trap (white and black colors; Freier and Francy 1991), or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) miniature light trap (white color; Sudia and Chamberlain 1962) in northern Florida. The Fay-Prince trap also collected numerous adult specimens of Culex quinquefasciatus Say, a mosquito species that is not efficiently collected in light traps (Smith et al. 2009 ). BG-Sentinel traps have been shown to be more effective at capturing Ae. aegypti than CDC backpack aspirators, and also to collect adult females in a greater range of physiological BARRERA et al.
doi:10.2987/13-6343.1 pmid:24551969 pmcid:PMC4631063 fatcat:nqyoicge3zetvd3glkszrf6w6u