A COMPARISON OF MOSQUITO SPECIES ASSEMBLAGES SAMPLED WITH THREE COMMONLY USED TRAPS AND A NOVEL DESIGN

In nuisance or vector mosquito management, effective sampling is a stepping stone to efficient use of resources, targeted control efforts, and successful reduction of disease transmission. Experimental evidence indicates that there are species biases for certain traps, which in turn implies that the traps used will influence the species make-up of samples collected. A comparative study between 3 CO2-baited light traps and 2 hay-infusion baited gravid traps-Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) light trap, American BioPhysics Company (ABC) light trap, Reiter-Cummings (RC) gravid trap, and a convertible gravid/light trap with a novel design-was conducted to test for species specificity of each trap type. It was found that different species of mosquitoes are more likely to be collected in greater numbers with certain traps compared to others, even between the different light traps or gravid traps. In particular, Coquillettidia perturbans tended to be collected in greater numbers with CDC light traps, Culex salinarius tended to be collected in greater numbers with the experimental convertible light traps, and Culex pipiens tended to be collected in greater numbers with the Reiters-Cummings gravid traps over the other traps included in the study (P <= 0.05). The overall species richness of samples was comparable among trap types, with similar performance of the new trap designs as established designs (P <= 0.05).