Container Mosquito Habitat Community Cleanup: A How-To Guide for Event Organization

Being bitten by the container mosquitoes Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus means a higher risk of becoming infected with Zika, dengue, or chikungunya virus. Container mosquitoes develop in the water that collects in discarded tires, jars, cans, buckets, and boats. The best way to prevent irritating bites and dangerous mosquito-transmitted illnesses is to get rid of all trash that holds water. This 6-page fact sheet written by Amy Hallock, Eva A. Buckner, Ricky W. Telg, and Alena R. Poulin and published by the UF/IFAS Entomology and Nematology Department is packed with recommendations that will help you to successfully develop and host a cleanup event to reduce potential mosquito larval habitats in your community and keep yourself and your neighbors safe.

Collection and Rearing of Container Mosquitoes and a 24-h Addition to the CDC Bottle Bioassay

Container mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) oviposit their eggs in both natural and artificial containers. Many container mosquito species also serve as important vectors of disease-causing pathogens including Aedes aegypti, Ae. albopictus, and Ae. triseriatus. Control of these species can be done through the use of adulticide sprays. The efficacy of these treatments is highly dependent on the insecticide susceptibility status of the local mosquito populations. This paper provides protocols on collecting and rearing container mosquitoes for use in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) bottle bioassay. A brief description of the CDC bottle bioassay is provided as well as a standardized protocol for the incorporation of a 24-h mortality to the CDC bottle bioassay. Results from this 24-h holding addition to the CDC bottle bioassay reveal that some forms of resistance may be missed without the incorporation of the additional mortality reading. These protocols provide a foundation for new laboratories to establish rearing protocols and begin conducting resistance monitoring.

Efficacy of Residual Pesticide–Treated Plant Saucers Against Aedes albopictus Larvae Under Semi–Field and Field Conditions

ABSTRACT Plant saucers are ubiquitous, outdoor water-holding receptacles and are one of the most productive domestic mosquito habitats in the urban environment. Two kinds of commonly used plant saucers, clay and plastic, were manually treated with 3 residual insecticides, bifenthrin (Talstar® Professional), lambda-cyhalothrin (Lambda 9.7 CS), and tau-fluvalinate (Mavrik® Perimeter), at their maximum rates to assess their residual efficacy against Aedes albopictus larvae under semi–field and field conditions. Both clay and plastic saucers treated with bifenthrin and lambda-cyhalothrin provided weeks of control of 3rd instars of Ae. albopictus, whereas tau-fluvalinate provided only 1 day of control. Results from this study show that bifenthrin and lambda-cyhalothrin can provide good control of Ae. albopictus larvae for a considerable period of time and have great potential with regard to container mosquito management in the future.

Spatial Distribution of Discarded Vehicle Tires and Their Influence on Aedes albopictus and Culex quinquefasciatus Populations, New Orleans, Louisiana

Discarded vehicle tires play an important role in the colonization of container mosquito populations, particularly their geographic expansion. We assessed the spatial distribution of illegally discarded tires and their response to land use-land cover (LULC), and demographic factors using geospatial analysis and generalized regression. Multiple stepwise regressions were used to evaluate the response of the Container Index (CI) of colonized Aedes albopictus (Skuse), and Culex quinquefasciatus Say to macro- and microhabitats variables. The illegally discarded tires were distributed over 11 planning districts with clustering distribution for tires frequency and overdispersed distribution for tires number. Out of 1,137 (∼37.08%) water-holding tires, 598 (∼52.64%) tires at 65 (∼38.46%) sites were positive for colonized mosquito populations. A total of 13 mosquito species were identified, with the highest CI of Ae. albopictus (44.19%) and Cx. quinquefasciatus (22.18%). Aedes albopictus colonized all 65 sample sites and Cx. quinquefasciatus found at 32 sites. The Container Index (CI) of colonized mosquito was clustered in seven planning districts for Ae. albopictus and five planning districts for Cx. quinquefasciatus. Microhabitat (muddy water) rather than macrohabitats variables predicted both species’ colonization, especially Ae. albopictus. The contribution of macro- and microhabitat characteristics in predicting colonized mosquito in water-holding tires was discussed.

Effects of combination of leaf resources on competition in container mosquito larvae

Resource diversity is critical to fitness in many insect species, and may determine the coexistence of competitive species and the function of ecosystems. Plant material provides the nutritional base for numerous aquatic systems, yet the consequences of diversity of plant material have not been studied in aquatic container systems important for the production of mosquitoes. To address how diversity in leaf detritus affects container-inhabiting mosquitoes, we examined how leaf species affect competition between two container inhabiting mosquito larvae, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, that co-occur in many parts of the world. We tested the hypotheses that leaf species changes the outcome of intra- and interspecific competition between these mosquito species, and that combinations of leaf species affect competition in a manner not predictable based upon the response to each leaf species alone (i.e. the response to leaf combinations is non-additive). We find support for our first hypothesis that leaf species can affect competition, evidence that, in general, leaf combination alters competitive interactions, and no support that leaf combination impacts interspecific competition differently than intraspecific competition. We conclude that combinations of leaves increase mosquito production non-additively such that combinations of leaves act synergistically, in general, and result in higher total yield of adult mosquitoes in most cases, although certain leaf combinations for A. albopictus are antagonistic. We also conclude that leaf diversity does not have a different effect on interspecific competition between A. aegypti and A. albopictus, relative to intraspecific competition for each mosquito.