The effects of infusion water type and fermentation time on mosquito and non-target organism collected in the CDC's Autocidal Gravid Ovitrap

Authors: MULLIN, LAGAN - ANASTASIA MOSQUITO CONTROL DISTRICT; DIXON, DANIEL; XUE, RUI-DE - ANASTASIA MOSQUITO CONTROL DISTRICT

Submitted to: Technical Bulletin of the Florida Mosquito Control Association
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/15/2020
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The yellow fever and tiger mosquitoes vector dangerous viruses to people, such as Dengue fever, chikungunya virus, yellow fever, and Zika virus. A new tool for the control of these mosquitoes, the Autocidal Gravid Ovitrap, has been successfully tested in Puerto Rico. Despite success elsewhere, when tested in Saint Augustine, FL, the Autocidal Gravid Ovitrap was effective in controlling the yellow fever and tiger mosquitoes but caught a large number of non-target organism. Personnel for the Anastasia Mosquito Control District along with scientists at the USDA-ARS, Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology, Gainesville, Florida, assessed different infusion water types to increase mosquito capture and decrease non-target organism capture rates in Saint Augustine. Different fermenting grass water mixtures, including the hay that came with the Autocidal Gravid Ovitrap, were tested in the traps to assess whether the capture rate and specificity could be improved. None of the infusion water substrates improved the capture rate and all collected more non-target organisms than the tap water control. This study found no significant improvements in mosquito and non-target organism capture rates in the Autocidal Gravid Ovitrap when different infusion water types and fermentation times were assessed suggesting that other approaches must be considered in improving the efficacy of the Autocidal Gravid Ovitrap.

Technical Abstract: The Autocidal Gravid Ovitrap (AGO) is being marketed as an alternative mosquito control tactic to potentially harmful spraying. One problem is the high number of non-target organisms captured with AGOs that is not present in other gravid traps utilized by mosquito control districts. We tested three different infusion water types with a tap water control in AGOs to determine if they would reduce non-target organism capture rates. However, all three infusion water types captured more non-target organisms than the tap water control, and the infusion water did not have a significant effect on the number of Aedes aegypti or Aedes albopictus mosquitoes collected. Fermentation time (the date) had an effect on non-target organism capture rates in the AGOs, but weather conditions may have confounded the fermentation effect. Despite capturing a low number of mosquitoes, this trap was attractive to pest species such as Lucilia sericata. Overall, this trap was ineffective at capturing high rates of Aedes mosquitoes, but it may function as a passive pest control trap with future design modifications.