A trap for the collection of bedbugs, Cimex lectularius Linnaeus (Hemiptera: Cimicidae), is described. The trap was baited with CO2 (50-400 mL/min), heat (37.2-42.2 degrees C) and a chemical lure comprised of 33.0 microg proprionic acid, 0.33 microg butyric acid, 0.33 microg valeric acid, 100 microg octenol and 100 microg L-lactic acid, impregnated into a gel. Laboratory studies, conducted in a square arena measuring 183 cm on each side, showed that traps with and without baits captured adult bedbugs, but traps with CO2 emissions of 50-400 mL/min caught significantly (P < 0.05) more bedbugs than traps without CO2. In an infested unoccupied apartment, traps with heat and with or without the chemical lure were tested without CO2 on 29 trap-days and with CO2 on 9 trap-days. The numbers of bedbugs captured were 656 and 5898 in traps without and with CO2, respectively. The numbers of bedbugs of all development stages captured were significantly greater in traps with CO2 (chi2 = 15 942, d.f. = 1, P < 10(-9)). A non-parametric two-way analysis of variance evaluation of six different traps with or without CO2, heat or a chemical lure monitored over 19 trap-days in an infested apartment showed that trap type was highly significant (n = 2833 bedbugs collected) (P < 10(-7)). The trap with CO2, heat and a chemical lure captured more bedbugs than the other traps, but only caught significantly more fourth and fifth instar nymphs than all other traps. Otherwise, the catches in this trap did not differ significantly from those caught by traps that contained CO2 and heat only. The total numbers of bedbugs collected for each trapping date (pooling all six traps) followed an exponential decline over the trapping period. This type of trap, which caught bedbugs in unoccupied apartments with and without furniture, and in an occupied apartment, may have utility in studying the ecology of bedbugs, in detecting bedbug infestations and in reducing numbers of bites by trapping host-seeking bedbugs.

Carbon dioxide (CO2), heat, and chemical lure (1-octen-3-ol and L-lactic acid) were tested as attractants for bed bugs, Cimex lectularius L. (Heteroptera: Cimicidae), by using pitfall traps. Both CO2 and heat were attractive to bed bugs. CO2 was significantly more attractive to bed bugs than heat. Traps baited with chemical lure attracted more bed bugs but at a statistically nonsignificant level. In small arena studies (56 by 44 cm), pitfall traps baited with CO2 or heat trapped 79.8 +/- 6.7 and 51.6 +/- 0.9% (mean +/- SEM) of the bed bugs after 6 h, respectively. Traps baited with CO2 + heat, CO, + chemical lure, or CO2 + heat + chemical lure captured > or = 86.7% of the bed bugs after 6 h, indicating baited pitfall traps were highly effective in attracting and capturing bed bugs from a short distance. In 3.1- by 1.8-m environmental chambers, a pitfall trap baited with CO, + heat + chemical lure trapped 57.3 +/- 6.4% of the bed bugs overnight. The pitfall trap was further tested in four bed bug-infested apartments to determine its efficacy in detecting light bed bug infestations. Visual inspections found an average of 12.0 +/- 5.4 bed bugs per apartment. The bed bugs that were found by visual inspections were hand-removed during inspections. A pitfall trap baited with CO2 and chemical lure was subsequently placed in each apartment with an average of 15.0 +/- 6.4 bed bugs collected per trap by the next morning. We conclude that baited pitfall traps are potentially effective tools for evaluating bed bug control programs and detecting early bed bug infestations.

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Twelve reported mosquito attractants, alone or in combination, and 3 different types of traps were evaluated under field conditions for their attractiveness to host-seeking and oviposition-seeking female Aedes japonicus japonicus and associated woodland species in Windsor, CT, in 2010 and 2011. This study highlights the effectiveness of combining CO2 with the TrapTech Mosquito Lure in a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) miniature light trap for collection of Ae. j. japonicus and associated woodland mammalian-feeding mosquitoes. The TrapTech Mosquito Lure is a proprietary blend of Bedoukian Research, Inc. It contained 250 mg of R-1-octen-3-ol and 1900 mg of ammonium bicarbonate, which were slowly released from a plastic disperser. On average, 567 Ae. j. japonicus individuals were collected per trap per night in the CDC miniature light traps baited with CO2 plus TrapTech Mosquito Lure. The numbers collected in this trap were 28 times and 100 times greater than the numbers of Ae. j. japonicus collected in the CDC miniature light trap baited only with CO2 and the gravid trap baited with hay infusion, 2 commonly used traps to assess abundance of Ae. j. japonicus. The average catches of other mammalian-biting species, Ae. cinereus, Ae. triseriatus, Ae. trivittatus, Ae. vexans, Anopheles punctipennis, An. quadrimaculatus, Coquillettidia perturbans, and Culex salinarius, were all significantly greater in the CDC miniature light trap baited with CO2 plus TrapTech Mosquito Lure than in traps with CO2 alone, but their average numbers were not as large as were those of Ae. j. japonicus. These data demonstrate that the TrapTech Mosquito Lure used in combination with CO2 in a CDC miniature light trap has potential to be a versatile and simple surveillance method for Ae. j. japonicus and other species.