Enhancement of the BG-sentinel trap with varying number of mice for field sampling of male and female Aedes albopictus mosquitoes. Issue 1 (December 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Le Goff, Gilbert; Damiens, David; Payet, Laurent; Ruttee, Abdoul-Hamid; Jean, Frédéric; Lebon, Cyrille; Dehecq, Jean-Sébastien; Gouagna, Louis-Clément
• Is Part Of: Parasites & vectors. Volume 9:Issue 1(2016)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 8
• Publication Date: 2016-12
• Subjects: Arbovirus vector -- Trapping mosquito -- Sterile insect technique; Parasitism -- Periodicals; Parasites -- Periodicals; Vector-pathogen relationships -- Periodicals; Animals as carriers of disease -- Periodicals; Insects as carriers of disease -- Periodicals; 616.96
• DOI: 10.1186/s13071-016-1801-1
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1756-3305

Abstract

Abstract Background Trapping male mosquitoes in the field is essential for the development of area-wide vector control programs with a sterile insect technique (SIT) component. To determine the optimal temporal and spatial release strategy, an estimation of the wild population density and its temporal dynamics is essential. Among the traps available for such data collection, the BG-Sentinel trap developed by the Biogents company uses a combination of visual cues, convection currents and olfactory signals. Although in numerous cases, this trap has shown high efficiency in samplingAedes albopictus, in some cases low capture rates ofAe. albopictus males were recorded for the BG-sentinel mosquito trap baited with synthetic attractants. Methods The effects of modifying the BG-sentinel trap (by adding one mouse, two or three live mice to the trap) on the efficiency of trappingAe. albopictus males and females was tested. The experiment was carried out in three distinct areas on La Réunion that have been selected for pilot field testing of the release of sterile maleAe. albopictus mosquitoes. The effect of four types of attractant (including the generic BG-Lure, one mouse or two to three mice) in baited BGS traps was tested with a Latin square design in order to control for the variability of different sampling positions and dates. Results At the three studied sites, the number ofAe. albopictus adults caught and the proportion of males per trap consistently increased with the number of mice present in the trap. Conclusion The results from this study suggest that some new attractants derived from, or similar to, mouse odors could be developed and tested in combination with other existing attractive components, such as CO2 and heat, in order to provide a reliable estimation method forAe. albopictus adult male abundance in the wild.