Oviposition Responses of the Mosquitoes Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus to Experimental Plant Infusions in Laboratory Bioassays

Abstract

Attraction of the mosquitoes Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus to plant infusions was evaluated by using a modified sticky-screen bioassay that improved the resolution of mosquito responses to odorants. Under bioassay conditions, solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatographic analyses of the volatile marker chemical indole showed that odorants diffused from bioassay cups, forming a concentration gradient. Infusions were prepared by separately fermenting senescent leaves of eight plant species in well water. Plant infusions were evaluated over an 8-fold range of leaf biomass and/or a 28d fermentation period. The responses of gravid females of both mosquito species varied with the plant species and biomass of plant materials used to make infusions, and with the length of the fermentation period. Infusions made from senescent bamboo (Arundinaria gigantea) and white oak (Quercus alba) leaves were significantly attractive to both mosquitoes. In general, infusions prepared by using low biomass of plant material over a 7–14d fermentation period were most attractive to Ae. aegypti. In contrast, Ae. albopictus was attracted to infusions made using a wider range of plant biomass and over a longer fermentation period. Both mosquito species were more attracted to a non-sterile white oak leaf infusion than to white oak leaf infusion that was prepared using sterilized plant material and water, thus suggesting a role for microbial activity in the production of odorants that mediate the oviposition response of gravid mosquitoes.

An improved autocidal gravid ovitrap for the control and surveillance of Aedes aegypti

“…aegypti by an average of 1.6 fold in the third field experiment. In the field cage experiment, infusions aged in an open container (ie., in situ ) were less attractive than infusions produced under anaerobic conditions, as previously reported [48,49]. …”

Gravid females of the mosquito Aedes aegypti avoid oviposition on m-cresol in the presence of the deterrent isomer p-cresol

“…Bermuda infusions were shown to either stimulate [18] or to deter/repel [19,20] oviposition of Ae. aegypti gravid females (Figure 1).…”

Monitoring temporal fluctuations of Culex quinquefasciatus using oviposition traps containing attractant and larvicide in an urban environment in Recife, Brazil

“…In addition to increasing the safety of the traps by not allowing them to become breeding sites, this combination is essential for an attract-and-kill control strategy based on trapping mosquito eggs. It is well known that volatile products of microbial activity attract gravid female mosquitoes for oviposition (Millar et al 1992, Isoe et al 1995, Ponnusamy et al 2010. In recent years, there has been growing lab and field evidence indicating that the entomopathogenic bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis var.…”