title: Laboratory evaluation of differential attraction of Culex pipiens pallens to fruit-based sugar baits.
abstract: Mosquito adults usually need to obtain sugar from floral nectaries and damaged fruits/seed pods to replenish their energy reserves. The newly developed attractive toxic sugar baits have been successfully applied in controlling various mosquito species outdoors. However, the attraction of Culex pipiens pallens to different fruit-based sugar baits remains unknown. In the present study, we selected nine common fruit species, prepared the fruit-based sugar solutions, and investigated the attractiveness of different sugar baits to newly emerged Cx. pipiens pallens in the laboratory. The results showed that when tested against the 5% brown sugar solution, all the sugar baits were significantly attractive to both females and males. When tested together in the mesh-covered cage, there was a significant difference on the attractiveness between different fruit-based sugar baits. The most attractive fruit species included Broussonetia papyrifera, Cucumis melo, C. melo var. saccharinus, Amygdalus persica and Pyrus bretschneideri, and their seed pods could be potentially used as ingredients in ATSB for controlling mosquitoes outdoors.
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Agriculture Key Laboratory of Agricultural Entomology, Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, 388 Yuhangtang Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, China.
authors.forename: Yan-Mei
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: National Termite Control Center of China, 695 Moganshan Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310011, China.
authors.forename: Yin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Agriculture Key Laboratory of Agricultural Entomology, Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, 388 Yuhangtang Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, China.
authors.forename: Bao-Ting
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Agriculture Key Laboratory of Agricultural Entomology, Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, 388 Yuhangtang Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Chang
authors.initials: XC
authors.lastname: Mo
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Agriculture Key Laboratory of Agricultural Entomology, Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, 388 Yuhangtang Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, China. Electronic address: mojianchu@zju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jian-Chu
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Mo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003465:Culex / Q000502:physiology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005638:Fruit; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009032:Mosquito Control / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Attraction; Attractive sugar bait; Culex pipiens pallens; Fruits; Sugar feeding