Artificial resting sites: An alternative sampling method for adult mosquitoes

Abstract

Mosquito collections are commonly conducted with baited traps predominantly attracting host‐seeking females. In contrast, resting sites are generally colonized by a broader range of the mosquito population, including a higher proportion of males and blood‐engorged females. This study evaluates the sampling success of different artificial resting sites, attached to a deciduous or coniferous tree at different heights. As standard sampling method, carbon dioxide‐baited Biogents Sentinel traps (BG traps) were operated in parallel. BG traps caught a higher number of specimens compared to the resting sites. However, the proportion of blood‐engorged females and males was higher in resting sites. More Culiseta spp. specimens were collected in resting sites compared to BG traps, but less Aedes spp. specimens. In general, fewer specimens and species were recorded in small resting sites and at top height level compared to medium or large resting sites at medium or ground level. The proportion of males was highest at the ground, while the proportion of engorged females was highest at medium and top level. Due to the higher proportion of blood‐engorged females, artificial resting sites are especially useful for studies of host‐feeding patterns or xenosurveillance. Low costs and efforts allow a cost‐effective increase of the number of resting sites per sampling site to collect more mosquitoes.

Thermal preference of adult mosquitoes (Culicidae) and biting midges (Ceratopogonidae) at different altitudes in Switzerland

“…Even though the original focus of our study was the thermal preference of different life stages of mosquitoes, only host seeking females could be investigated because the catches in the other traps were too low. Pop‐up garden bags and resting trap boxes were used to collect resting mosquitoes because these were commercially available, and the pop‐up garden bags had shown promising catch rates in other studies (Jaworski et al, 2021; Sauer et al, 2020). Whereas the resting traps caught 0.848 Cx.…”

“…Whereas the resting traps caught 0.848 Cx. pipiens mosquitoes per catching event (Panella et al, 2011), the pop‐up garden bags collected 2.16 (Jaworski et al, 2021). However, both methods were not efficient in our study.…”

Effects of mosquito resting site temperatures on the estimation of pathogen development rates in near-natural habitats in Germany

“…As other artificial resting sites [ 48 , 49 ], garden pop-up bags are particularly useful for collecting cavity-resting genera Anopheles , Culiseta and Culex . Aedes are underrepresented in garden pop-up bags [ 25 , 33 ]. Instead, we frequently found Aedes in natural resting habitats, especially in the herb layer, which is in accord with previous studies [ 22 , 23 , 50 ].…”

“…In general, six potential natural resting habitats and nine artificial resting sites were sampled at each sampling site. Mosquitoes were collected from garden pop-up bags (Relaxdays GmbH, Halle, Germany; 76 l), which are known to be accepted as an artificial resting site by various mosquito species [ 25 , 33 ]. Three garden pop-up bags were installed in different directions in one tree at three height levels (0 m, 2 m and 5 m).…”

“…surrounding land cover) [ 23 , 24 ]. Furthermore, the active resting site selection is influenced by small-scale factors such as the type of microhabitat or the vertical height level [ 23 , 25 ], and thus probably affect the temperature acting on the mosquitoes, which are considered to spend most of their life-time in resting sites [ 26 ]. Moreover, mosquito species composition is known to be affected by large-scale factors such as land cover [ 27 ].…”