Comparative evaluation of two lures to attract female mosquitoes in an urban natural reserve during daytime

Abstract

The most widely used attractant to capture adult female mosquitoes is CO2. However, there are also baits available on the market that emit a scent resembling human skin. These baits were specifcally designed to attract highly anthropophilic species such as Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti. In this study, we compare the efectiveness of CDC traps baited either with CO2 or with a commercial blend simulating skin odor, BG-Sweetscent, for trapping female mosquitoes during daylight hours in an urban reserve in the City of Buenos Aires. We employed a hurdle generalized linear mixed model to analyze trap capture probability and the number of mosquitoes captured per hour, considering the efects of attractant, mosquito species, and their interaction. Traps baited with CO2 captured ten mosquito species, while those baited with BG-Sweetscent captured six in overall signifcantly lower abundance. The odds of capturing mosquitoes were 292% higher for the CO2-baited traps than for those baited with BG-Sweetscent. No evidence of a combined efect of attractant type and species on female mosquito captures per hour was found. Results indicated that CDC traps baited with CO2 were more efective than those baited with BG-Sweetscent in capturing more mosquito species and a higher number of mosquitoes within each species, even if the species captured with CO2 exhibited a certain level of anthropophilia. This result has practical implications for mosquito surveillance and control in urban natural reserves.