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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 #367667
Research Project: Biting Arthropod Surveillance and Control

Location: Mosquito and Fly Research

Title: Field trials to evaluate the effectiveness of the Biogents Sweetscent lure in combination with several commercial mosquito traps and to assess the effectiveness of ABiogents Mosquitaire trap with and without carbon dioxide

Author
item DEGENER, CAROLIN - Biogents Ag
item GELER, MARTIN - Biogents Ag
item Kline, Daniel - Dan
item URBAN, JOYCE - Retired ARS Employee
item WILLIS, SCOTT - Calcasieu Parish Mosquito Control
item RAMIREZ, KATHERINE - Consolidated Mosquito Abatement District
item CLOHERTY, ERIN - City Of New Orleans
item GORDON, SCOTT - Biogents Ag

Submitted to: Journal of the Mosquito Control Association
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/15/2018
Publication Date: 3/20/2019
Citation: Degener, C.M., Geler, M., Kline, D.L., Urban, J., Willis, S., Ramirez, K., Cloherty, E.R., Gordon, S.W. 2019. Field trials to evaluate the effectiveness of the Biogents Sweetscent lure in combination with several commercial mosquito traps and to assess the effectiveness of ABiogents Mosquitaire trap with and without carbon dioxide. Journal of the Mosquito Control Association. 35 (1): 32-39, 2019.

Interpretive Summary: Mosquito-borne diseases represent a global public health threat. More than one million people die annually due to vector-borne diseases. An integral part of mosquito population management is surveillance. Effective surveillance relies on effective traps and attractants (lures). The aim of this study was to determine if peridomestic mosquito species catch rates could be increased when traps utilize the BG-Sweetscent lure. Several commercially available traps were compared utilizing this novel lure with and without carbon dioxide. This study was a collaborative effort between USDA, several mosquito control districts and private industry (Biogents AG, Regensburg, Germany). We concluded that BG-Sweetscent increases the catch rates of our target peridomestic mosquitoes and that the BG-Mosquitaire trap is as efficient as the standard peridomestic trap (BG-Sentinel) and that it can outperform mosquito traps that are baited with propane-generated carbon dioxide.

Technical Abstract: A series of field experiments was conducted in Florida, California, and Louisiana in order to investigate whether adding the Biogents (BG)-Sweetscent lure to several commercially available mosquito traps increases their Aedes albopictus catch rates and to evaluate the BG-Mosquitaire trap with and without CO2. Adding the BG-Sweetscent to the SkeeterVac Bite-Guard SVE6211, MosClean UV LED (ultraviolet light-emitting diode), Flowtron Galaxie PV 75, Dynatrap DT2000XL, Bite Shield Protector, and Black Flag BZ-40 increased their Ae. albopictus catch rates up to 4.2 fold. The catch rates of the BG-Mosquitaire and the BG-Sentinel did not differ significantly for Ae. aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus. The BG-Mosquitaire without CO2 and only with BG-Sweetscent caught 1.2 times more than the CO2- and Sweetscent-baited SkeeterVac, respectively. The BG-Mosquitaire baited with Sweetscent and CO2 collected 6.8 times more Ae. albopictus than the Mosquito Magnet Patriot and 11.9 times more than the SkeeterVac. We conclude that BG-Sweetscent increases the tiger mosquito catch rates of many commercially available mosquito traps. We proved that the BG-Mosquitaire is as efficient as the well-known BG-Sentinel and that it can outperform mosquito traps that are baited with propane-generated CO2.