What are Ovitrap Baskets?

These are small dark containers (e.g. black, red) made from different materials (e.g. glass, metal, plastic, rubber) containing water (e.g. 0.25–2 lt) or water with decomposing organic material (e.g. hay, leaves, yeast), and a substrate to collect mosquito eggs (e.g. wooded tongue depressor, germination paper, cloth). Ovitraps were produced to detect the presence of Ae. aegypti during the eradication campaign of this mosquito in the Americas [7]. Ovitraps target eggs from ovipositing gravid female mosquitoes, so that mass ovitrapping intends to reduce the fecundity of the Aedes population. A principal limitation of small ovitraps as an area-wide mass trapping strategy is the need for servicing them frequently to replace water, attractants, and oviposition substrates, but also to prevent hatched larvae from becoming adults. The latter issue has been addressed by adding larvicides that do not repel ovipositing females (Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis, spinosad, novaluron, S-methoprene, yeast interfering RNA) [8,9]. Chan et al. [10] developed an autocidal ovitrap to control Ae. aegypti in Singapore that prevented the emergence of adult mosquitoes developing inside the ovitrap by mechanical means (asphyxiation). The authors recommended the use of autocidal ovitraps along with source reduction to maximize control. There are no recent publications that address controlling Aedes species using ovitraps and earlier studies on mass trapping were reviewed by Johnson et al. [5]. Currently, insecticidal traps are not considered for mass trapping Aedes species.