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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 #401214
Research Project: Improved Surveillance and Control of Stable Flies, House Flies, and Other Filth Flies

Location: Mosquito and Fly Research

Title: Comparison of trap and equine attraction to mosquitoes

Author
item DILLING, SARAH - University Of Florida
item TENBROECK, SAUNDRA - University Of Florida
item Hogsette, Jerome - Jerry
item Kline, Daniel - Dan

Submitted to: Insects
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/31/2023
Publication Date: 4/11/2023
Citation: Dilling, S.C., Tenbroeck, S.H., Hogsette, Jr, J.A., Kline, D.L. 2023. Comparison of trap and equine attraction to mosquitoes. Insects. 14(4):374. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects14040374.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/insects14040374

Interpretive Summary: Mosquitoes are overlooked as pests of cattle and horses and the ability of mosquito traps to protect horses needs to be better studied. When a horse was placed within 10 feet of a selected mosquito trap the numbers of mosquitoes trapped decreased because the mosquitoes moved to the horse. After removing the horse, numbers of mosquitoes quickly increased. Three traps placed in different locations showed that mosquitoes were not evenly distributed. Two horses vacuumed to collect the feeding mosquitoes showed that 324 and 359 mosquitoes per hour were feeding on the animals during the studies. One horse attracted twice as many mosquitoes as the other horse. More work is needed determine the attractive range of traps and horses.

Technical Abstract: Mosquitoes are overlooked as pests of cattle and horses and the ability of mosquito traps to protect horses needs to be better studied. When a horse was placed within 10 feet of a selected mosquito trap the numbers of mosquitoes trapped decreased because the mosquitoes moved to the horse. After removing the horse, numbers of mosquitoes quickly increased. Three traps placed in different locations showed that mosquitoes were not evenly distributed. Two horses vacuumed to collect the feeding mosquitoes showed that 324 and 359 mosquitoes per hour were feeding on the animals during the studies. One horse attracted twice as many mosquitoes as the other horse. More work is needed determine the attractive range of traps and horses.