Feasibility of wing beat sound trap for the control of mosquito vectors.

Abstract

Early observations suggested that the female sound was a possible cause of mating. Attempts had been made for introduction of female wing beat sound for removal male mosquitoes from the population for the control purpose. The traps emitted female wing beat sound, were set on black clothes as a swarm marker, could collect a large number of male Cx. tritaeniorhynchus in Japan. Those traps were later improved with introduction of two attractants, hamster and dry ice. Consequently, two systems were adopted for efficiency trapping of males and females. A cylinder trap with 350 Hz of wing beat frequency was introduced for male Cx. tritaeniorhynchus collection, while the cage trap with 530 Hz was for female collection. The traps were set every other days after sun set for three weeks in a paddy field. Although there was no decrease of population density, the reduction of parous rate was evident. For future effective control, it may suggest the need to distribute more wing beat sound traps to cover all larva breeding paddy field and near by blood sources. On the other hand, other control methods should be integrated.