Comparing efficacy of a sweep net and a dip method for collection of mosquito larvae in large bodies of water in South Africa

Katherine K Brisco; Anthony J Cornel; Yoosook Lee; Joel Mouatcho; Leo Braack

doi:10.12688/f1000research.8351.1

Comparing efficacy of a sweep net and a dip method for collection of mosquito larvae in large bodies of water in South Africa

F1000Res. 2016 Apr 21:5:713. doi: 10.12688/f1000research.8351.1. eCollection 2016.

Authors

Katherine K Brisco¹, Anthony J Cornel¹, Yoosook Lee², Joel Mouatcho³, Leo Braack³

Affiliations

¹ Mosquito Control Research Laboratory, Kearney Agricultural Center, Department of Entomology and Nematology, UC Davis, Parlier, CA, USA.
² Vector Genetics Laboratory, Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, School of Veterinary Medicine, UC Davis, Davis, CA, USA.
³ Centre for Sustainable Malaria Control, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.

Abstract

In this study we tested an alternative method for collecting mosquito larvae called the sweep net catch method and compared its efficiency to that of the traditional dip method. The two methods were compared in various water bodies within Kruger National Park and Lapalala Wilderness area, South Africa. The sweep net catch method performed 5 times better in the collection of Anopheles larvae and equally as well as the dip method in the collection of Culex larvae (p =8.58 x 10 ^-5). Based on 15 replicates the collector's experience level did not play a significant role in the relative numbers of larvae collected using either method. This simple and effective sweep net catch method will greatly improve the mosquito larval sampling capacity in the field setting.

Keywords: Anopheles; Culex; dipping; larval sampling; sweep net.

Associated data

figshare/10.6084/m9.figshare.3123274.v1

Grants and funding

Both Cornel and Braack were beneficiaries of a Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program grant (IIE Grantee ID: 15410201) which partly enabled this study.