Exploiting the Synergistic Effect of Kairomones and Light-Emitting Diodes on the Attraction of Phlebotomine Sand Flies to Light Traps in Brazil

Abstract

The synergistic effect of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and kairomones on the attraction of sand flies to light traps was evaluated. Octenol and lactic acid were used as chemical attractants. Green LEDs and the incandescent lamps were used as light attractants. Five CDC-type light traps with the respective combination of attractants (incandescent lamp, incandescent lamp + chemical attractant, green LED, green LED + chemical attractant, and chemical attractant alone [without light]) were set between 18:00 and 06:00 following a Latin square design. A total of 6,536 sand flies and 16 species were collected. The most frequent species collected was Lutzomyia longipalpis (Lutz & Neiva, 1912) (Diptera, Psychodidae) accounting for 43.21% of all individuals. Order of success (mean, SD) of lactic acid attractant fly capture was as follows: LED + lactic acid (36.83 ± 4.74), LED alone (34.87 ± 4.61), incandescent lamp + lactic acid (22.80 ± 3.19), incandescent lamp alone (12.67 ± 2.03), and lactic acid (0.46 ± 0.13). Order of success of octenol attractant fly capture was as follows: LED + octenol (37.23 ± 5.61), LED alone (35.77 ± 5.69), incandescent lamp + octenol (18.63 ± 3.28), incandescent lamp alone (14.67 ± 2.86), and octenol alone (1.80 ± 0.65). With exception of lactic acid + incandescent light, chemical synergists played no part in significantly increasing light trap capture of phlebotomine sand flies. However, the use of LEDs, with or without such attractants, provided significantly higher capture compared to the incandescent lamp with or without such chemicals, showing that LEDs are suitable and efficient light sources for surveillance and monitoring of phlebotomine sand flies in Brazil.

Light Traps in Shipping Containers: A New Tool for the Early Detection of Insect Alien Species

“…In fact, several researches demonstrate the effectiveness of light as an attractant both for Pyralidae ( Kanno et al 1985 , Loganathan et al 2001 , Sambaraju and Phillips 2008 ) and other Lepidoptera families like Crambidae ( Keszthelyi and Sáringer 2003 , Haihua et al 2016 ), and Hyblaeidae ( Loganathan et al 2001 ). Light traps are already widely used to capture Diptera like Chironomidae ( van Grunsven et al 2014 ), Culicidae ( Burkett et al 1998 , Silva et al 2019b ), Psychodidae Phlebotominae ( Cohnstaedt et al 2008 , da Silva et al 2019a ), and other 14 families ( Ndengué et al 2019 ). Moreover, this light trap has already been tested on other orders, like Diaphorina citri (Hemiptera: Liviidae) ( Mangan and Chapa 2013 ).…”

Artificial light and biting flies: the parallel development of attractive light traps and unattractive domestic lights

“…Light traps using incandescent bulbs generally catch fewer flies than light traps emitting UV (<400 nm) light [46][47][48][49][50][51][52]. However, LEDs can be both less attractive [9,15,17,49,[53][54][55][56][57] and more attractive [18,19,[58][59][60][61][62][63] than incandescent or fluorescent lights. In studies where LEDs have been found to be less attractive, the LED is usually white.…”

Improved Light Traps for Early Detection of Insect Pests of Phytosanitary Concern in Shipping Containers

“…Also D. melanogaster is most sensitive to short wavelength lights (ultraviolet, blue, and green) with two peaks at 420 nm and 495 nm ( de Salomon and Spatz 1983 , Kelber and Henze 2013 ). Light traps with similar wavelengths are largely used for moth monitoring, but they may also intercept Diptera ( Kim and Lee 2014a , da Silva et al 2019 , Ndengué et al 2019 , Silva et al 2019 ).…”