217 - Update on Attractive toxic sugar baits based on sugar and plant feeding behavior

Experiments were carried out in the flood plain of the Niger in Mali West Africa, in rice field areas in which Culex sp. and Anophelines of the gambiae-complex were breeding in large numbers. A trapping pattern of two concentric Malaise trap circles, separated by a distance of 300m from each other, with radii of 6m up to 50m, was employed. One circle was alternately used as control and the other as experimental. Cows, humans, chickens, and different types of flowering and non-flowering vegetation were used as attractants in the center of one circle while the control circle was without a bait. For each experiment two identical circles of Malay traps, with radii that were presumed suitable for the tested attractant were set up. According to the results, the following nights, traps were positioned in shorter or longer distances from the same bait. The caught mosquito females in the two circles were identified and counted. A statistical difference (after ten repetitions) between control and experimental catches was considered attraction. Culex and Anophelines were attracted differently. Maximal attraction distance varied significantly from bait to bait, varying from no attraction at 4m with attraction up to 48m.