NOVEL TRAP CONFIGURATION FOR LIVE CAPTURE OF MOSQUITOES

Diverse mosquito traps are available for mosquito and arbovirus surveillance. The delicate nature of the mosquito body makes them vulnerable to damage as they pass through the trap's fan, which can lead to rapid desiccation or mortality within the capture chamber. This can negatively affect surveillance accuracy, impacting both the precise identification of mosquitoes and the reliable execution of molecular assays for arbovirus detection. In this study, we report a novel modification to three widely used mosquito traps: CDC light trap, BG-Sentinel trap, and CDC gravid trap, incorporating a mesh funnel and updraft design to address these issues. We compared updraft and downdraft configurations of light traps under field conditions and compared the effectiveness of the modified BG and gravid trap to unaltered counterparts in semi-field environments. Subsequently, we conducted field validation of modified mosquito traps to assess their trapping effectiveness in terms of mosquito abundance and species composition in coastal forest and suburban areas. Our findings revealed that there was no significant difference in trapping effectiveness between different fan configurations. The adaptation made to the BG trap exhibited higher recapture rates of Culex quinquefasciatus and Aedes albopictus in comparison to the unmodified BG-Sentinel trap. The modification of the gravid trap was equivalent to unaltered CDC gravid trap. During our field trial, the modified light traps had a higher collection rate of mosquitoes with a wider spectrum of species diversity than modified BG or gravid traps, regardless of site. The modified BG traps captured more arbovirus vector species (Culex and Aedes species), with an increase in Ae. albopictus (11 times) and Ae. aegypti (1.75 times) when compared to the light traps. The modified gravid traps mostly collected Culex spp., accounting for over 47% of the collected mosquitoes. The results indicate that the novel trap configuration preserves trap functionality and improves specimen quality by avoiding the death and dismemberment of collected mosquitoes.