Field catching of mosquitoes with various types of sound traps

Abstract

"To further improve the efficiency of sound traps, 4 different types of traps were tested on Culex tritaeniorhynchus in a paddy and Aedes albopictus in a wood. A black-painted, board speaker trap, 53 x 73 x 1 cm, which was set vertically and emitted a 400-Hz sound, caught as many males of Cx. tritaeniorhynchus as a large cup trap and a previous, standard cylinder trap did. However, a board trap caught more unfed and gravid females than others when all were set near a pigpen. The board speaker trap also caught significantly larger numbers of Ae. albopictus females than other traps. This higher attractancy was attributed to its features of sound being emitted from the entire speaker surface, and its visibility to flying mosquitoes. Continuous 8-day trapping of Ae. albopictus with 5 traps of 3 types on each day almost decimated the male population in the woods of 15 x 100 m."[The numbers of Ae. albopictus caught were very low. Day-to-day variation in numbers is usually considerable, therefore the authors' claim that the male population was decimated owing to the continuous 8-day trapping should be viewed with caution.]J.E. Miller