Field studies on the potential of butanone, carbon dioxide, honey extract, l‐octen‐3‐ol, L‐lactic acid and phenols as attractants for mosquitoes*

Abstract

Abstract. Various combinations of six candidate attractants ‐butanone, carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), honey, octenol, lactic acid and mixed phenols ‐ were tested against natural populations of mosquitoes in Everglades National Park, Florida, U.S.A., using unlighted CDC‐baited traps. With few exceptions, the attractancy of these candidate compounds to mosquitoes, when used alone, was less than that of CO 2 alone. The exceptions were that octenol and honey extract alone attracted larger numbers of Coquillettidiaperturbans (Walker). Addition of lactic acid and/or octenol to CO2 increased trap collections of Aedes taeniorhynchus (Wiedemann), Anopheles atropos D. & K., and An. crucians Wiedemann by 1.4–13.8 times. Culex nigripalpus Theobald collections were increased 2.7 times by the addition of lactic acid, while the addition of octenol produced mixed results. Whereas the addition of lactic acid reduced collections of Cx (Melanoconion) spp., the addition of octenol generally increased collections. The opposite happened for Wyeomyia mitchellii (Theobald). For the biting midge, Culicoides furens (Poey), octenol (1.6–23.4X) and phenol (2.7x) alone attracted larger numbers, and lactic acid alone attracted approximately the same numbers as CO 2 alone. The combinations octenol + phenol and octenol + 200 ml/min CO 2 increased C.furens collections c. 100 times over CO 1 alone. The combination of octenol + CO 2 increased (1.6x) collections of the tabanid Diachlorus ferrugatus (Fabricius). Butanone appeared to decrease the trap collections of all species when combined with CO 2 or octenol + CO 2 .