Comparative Efficacy of Suction Traps Baited with Different Chemical Lures for Collecting Sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in Northern Ethiopia

Abstract

Studies of sandfly-parasite interactions and vector bionomics or taxonomy require sampling methods that generate reliable data for surveillance of vector control programs. The current study evaluated effectiveness of suction traps baited with rodent (Taterarobusta), sugar-yeast mixture (SYS), human hair in ethanol, green and red light sticks for the collection of sandflies. In this field study, using Latin square experiments with thorough rotation and replication, six different trap-bait combinations were tested for their attractiveness to wild caught
sandfly species, by placing unlit CDC traps in an up-draft position. In total, 4,640 sandfly specimens belonging to six species of the genus Phlebotomus and nine of the genus Sergentomyia were captured. P. orientalis and S. africana constituted 55.5% and 26.2% of the collected sandflies, respectively. Significantly, a higher number of sandflies were caught in suction traps baited with T. robusta followed by SYS. However, baits of human hair in ethanol, green and red light sticks attracted a lesser number of sandflies. Traps with T. robusta attracted
significantly more number of P. orientalis than other baits. Similarly, in the SYS-baited traps more P. orientalis were attracted, though the number of, P. orientalis collected with green and red chemical light-sticks was very low. These findings present an essential step in the development of a cheap and easily applicable CO2 source that could be used for sandfly surveillance in rural or remote areas

Keywords: Baits, lure, Phlebotomus orientalis, sandfly, sugar-yeast mixture