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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Gainesville, Florida » Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology » Mosquito and Fly Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #142511
Title: FIELD AND LABORATORY EVALUATIONS OF POTENTIAL OVIPOSITION ATTRACTANTS FOR AEDES ALBOPICTUS (DIPTERA: CULICIDAE)

Author
item TREXLER, JONATHAN - NC STATE UNIVERSITY
item APPERSON, CHARLES - NC STATE UNIVERSITY
item GEMENO, CEASAR - NC STATE UNIVERSITY
item PERICH, MICHAEL - LSU AGRICULTURAL CENTER
item CARLSON, DAVID
item SCHAL, COBY - NC STATE UNIVERSITY

Submitted to: American Mosquito Control Association
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/15/2003
Publication Date: 9/15/2003
Citation: TREXLER, J.D., APPERSON, C.S., GEMENO, C., PERICH, M.J., CARLSON, D.A., SCHAL, C. FIELD AND LABORATORY EVALUATIONS OF POTENTIAL OVIPOSITION ATTRACTANTS FOR AEDES ALBOPICTUS (DIPTERA: CULICIDAE). AMERICAN MOSQUITO CONTROL ASSOCIATION. 2003. v.19(3) p.228-234.

Interpretive Summary: Traps that capture mosquitoes when they lay eggs could be an effective tool for mosquito control. Scientists at the Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology, Gainesville Florida provided attractant-containing chemical packets to scientists at North Carolina State University in an effort supported by the Walter Reed Army Instuitute of Research to study of synthetic attractants for these kinds of traps (called ovitraps) for the Asian Tiger mosquito. Five chemicals known to be attractive to other kinds of mosquitoes at the egg-laying stage were tested. None of the five chemicals attracted Asian Tiger mosquitoes in laboratory tests or in the field. In addition, the chemicals did not elicit activity in tests in which the antennae of female mosquitoes were used as sensitive chemical detectors. Additional studies are being made to find attractive chemicals that can be used to trap egg-laying mosquitoes.

Technical Abstract: Five volatile synthetic chemicals (dimethyl disulfide, indole, 4-methylphenol, 3-methylindole, and trimethylamine) were tested as potential oviposition attractants of Aedes albopictus (Skuse) in field and laboratory experiments. None of the compounds elicited a significant positive oviposition response. The five synthetic compounds were loaded into controlled-release packets, which consisted of a cellulose material sealed within a permeable plastic membrane. The controlled-release packets were used to bait water-filled ovitraps at five field sites. Aedes albopictus exhibited no oviposition preference for any of the baited traps versus adjacent traps containing only water. In addition, there was no difference in the mean number of eggs laid per trap-day by Ae. albopictus among ovitraps treated with the five compounds. A binary sticky-screen bioassay was employed that measured attraction of gravid females to olfactory stimuli rather than contact-mediated stimulation of oviposition. Compounds were evaluated over a range of concentrations that spanned 3-5 logs (0.0083 to 8.3 or 83 mg/L). Three concentrations of 4-methylphenol (0.083 mg/l, 0.83 mg/l, and 8.3 mg/L) and one concentration of 3-methylindole (8.3 mg/l) were significantly repellent. All other concentrations of the five chemicals tested did not attract more females than water. Electoantennograms indicated that Ae. albopictus did not exhibit a physiological response to any of the five chemicals at 0.025 mg/L.