Autocidal gravid trapping extends effectiveness of backyard control and alters age structure of Aedes albopictus

Aedes albopictus is a nuisance pest mosquito of public health which can transmit human pathogens.  One control approach for Ae. albopictus is to employ private pest control companies that use adulticides and larval habitat management (LHM).  These measures do not offer control beyond three to four weeks, and reliance on insecticides increases resistance in target species and negatively impacts non-target species.  To investigate whether adding autocidal traps would extend the effectiveness of traditional control methods in Wake County, NC, we added Gravid Aedes Traps (GAT), Autocidal Gravid Ovitraps (AGO), and In2Care traps to a standard backyard control application, using 5 houses per trap type.  Five houses remained treated with only barrier spray and LHM, and an additional 5 untreated houses served as controls.  We collected adults from each property once per week using 1 BG-Sentinel II trap from 10 June to 21 June 2019 (pre-treatment period) and 2 BG-Sentinel II traps from 24 June to 16 August 2019 (post-treatment period), for a total of 10 weeks.  We dissected a portion of female Ae. albopictus from each collection for parity.  AGO- and GAT-treated properties experienced significant prolonged reductions in Ae. albopictus compared to controls, with AGO-treated houses exhibiting populations that aged slower than the other treatments.  Future studies could test these control methods at the neighborhood level to evaluate effectiveness at a larger scale, as well as assess the effect of autocidal traps alone.  Mosquito control efforts may benefit from deploying low-maintenance autocidal traps in addition to barrier spraying and LHM.