Effectiveness of mosquito magnets for reducing mosquito (Diptera) populations in coastal areas of Samut Songkhram province, Thailand.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this research is to study the effectiveness of mosquito magnet (MM) for reducing mosquitoes (Diptera) populations in coastal areas.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The study sites are in the coastal area of Samut Songkhram province, Thailand, which is divided into two locations; one that is 2 km and another that is 4 km in distance from the sea. We used the Mosquito Magnet Independence (MMI) trap for effective field testing in Samut Songkhram Province, Thailand. Traps were placed 100 m away from the house (one trap per location) and mosquitoes were collected at night from 6 PM to 6 AM during September and October 2017 (30 days).

RESULTS

A total of 2,561 adult mosquitoes, including Linton & Harbach Say Wiedmann, and Theobald were collected by MMI. At a 2-km distance from the sea were captured more mosquitoes per night more than at a 4-km distance (63.63 ± 42.30 21.70 ± 12.42). The comparison of effectiveness of MMI in two locations of the coastal area was shown to have a statistically significant difference ( < 0.05) and analysis of the correlation between the number of mosquitoes caught in coastal areas, including at a 2- and 4-km distance from the sea, accounting for weather factors, we found that the effectiveness of MMI was not correlated with weather ( > 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Overall, this study demonstrated that MM can be used to control mosquitoes in coastal areas with high efficiency, especially 2 km away from the sea.