Comparison of Mosquito Magnet and Biogents Sentinel Traps for Operational Surveillance of Container-Inhabiting Aedes (Diptera: Culicidae) Species

Container-inhabiting Aedes are among the most medically important mosquito vectors of diseases. They also impact health and quality of life by their persistent and severe biting. Monitoring of container-inhabiting Aedes species is challenging due to the need for specialized traps and lures. Biogents Sentinel (BGS) trap has become a standard for Aedes albopictus (Skuse) surveillance; however, it has substantial problems with durability, quality of construction, and sample exposure to the elements. The goal of this study was to develop a methodology for collecting medically important container-inhabiting Aedes species in numbers sufficient for population trend analysis, control efficacy studies, and pathogen testing. Mosquito Magnets (MM) baited with BG lure and R-octenol were selected as the most practical alternative to BGS, collecting significantly more Ae. albopictus (32.1+/-0.7 vs. 5.6+/-0.1), Aedes japonicus (Theobald) (10.1+/-0.4 vs. 1.2+/-0.02), and Aedes triseriatus (Say) (0.9+/-0.04 vs. 0.04+/-0.004) females on average per trapping under a variety of weather conditions. MM can be particularly useful for long-term surveillance or when large numbers of specimens are required for pathogen isolation, such as at the sites with suspected dengue or chikungunya transmission.