Fig 3 -

A) CO2 cylinder with attached regulator and ammo can; Inspection points: 1) Cylinder valve; 2) Attachment of regulator to cylinder; 3) Bleed valve; 4) Pressure reading; 5) Couplings for CO2 line; 6) Connector under ammo can lid; 7) Connector for CO2 line to trap. B) Assembly for #5.</p

1) Thermoforming plastic strip cut to a reasonable length to encircle your desired CO₂ cylinder.

2) Molding the plastic to the desired cylinder and allowing to cool to shape. 3) Riveting holster inside the ammo can and reinforcing the opposite edge with tape to protect batteries during use. (TIF)</p

Comparison between the Salt Lake City trap (SLC) and commercial ABC trap (Clarke Mosquito Control, St. Charles, IL) based on adult mosquito collection totals.

Bar graphs with I-bars as standard error of the mean. All pairings were not significantly different within their group.</p

Fig 4 -

A) Ammo can transport a filled CO2 cylinder with regulator, trap fan with airstone, trap net with label, and battery; B) ammo can packed together; C) transport and load; D) squared design fits into racks on a truck bed-slide system; E) trap-to-can CO2 connection; F) Fully deployed trap with 6v battery and trap secured to pole and linked with ammo can.</p

Field sites allocated for testing in the wetland and scrub habitats approaching the Great Salt Lake.

Site 1 in the far west of the alkali mud flats outlying the Great Salt Lake. Site 2 near agricultural lands, in flood plans and salt shrub habitat. Site 3 with meadow seeps in freshwater wetlands. The shapefiles for the municipalities, states, country, and hydrography used for the creation of this map were extracted from United States Geological Survey (USGS) (https://basemap.nationalmap.gov/arcgis/rest/services/USGSTNMBlank/MapServer).</p

1) Rejected design for funnel shaped trap body.

2) Printing errors that occur when the bed and nozzle settings are not correct for your build. 3) Rejected, but suitable, bucket container option for transport. 4) Rejected, but suitable, toolbox container option for transport. (TIF)</p

Pairwise test results for airstone/CO2 line positioning (high vs. low), battery options (6v sealed lead acid vs. USB lithium battery pack), and trap body type (funneled vs. straight/simple body).

Bar graphs with I-bars as standard error of the mean. All pairings were not significantly different within their group.</p

Fig 1 -

A) Parts layout for the Salt Lake City (SLC) trap: [1]; eye-screws and clips [2]; #2 conduit hanger and a 6-v variable speed motor and 7.5-cm (3 in) propeller; 18-guage copper wire and battery clips [4]; 0.48 cm (3/16 in) tubing with airstone for CO2; and push-to-connect fitting to attach to a CO2 source of choice. B) Commercial ABC trap, distributed by Clarke Mosquito Control (St. Charles, IL).</p

Six different prototypes of traps during initial screening.

A) 3-piece base design developed using an entry funnel mounted to a computer case fan, then stacked with a second funnel for connecting a catch net; used for 3 trap designs: a 12-volt case fan (Tornado TD8038H, Vantec Thermal Technologies, Fremont, CA) and measured at 20-kph suction. A 6-volt case fan (Multifan S1 80mm, AC Infinity, Inc., City of Industry, CA) measuring at 12-kph suction was then used for two separate models: “Complex Airstone” containing a 5-mm mineral airstone (Jardin Stone, UXCell Co., Hong Kong, China) on the CO2 line (4-mm inner diameter standard aquarium tubing, Penn-Plax, inc., Hauppauge, NY) for dispersing a lure homogenously; and “Pore Dispersal” where the CO2 line was fitted directly to the fan. B) The Salt Lake City trap covered in the main manuscript. C) 3D-printed trap design shared by Mosquito Consulting Services based in New Zealand. D) Positive control of the ABC trap (Clarke Mosquito Control, St. Charles, IL). E) Comparison data with a minimum of 4 replicates each and using aggregate adult mosquito collections. Outliers are black points outside the range of the box whiskers. Blue points denote the mean and the central black bar reflects the median. (TIF)</p

Comparative Host Feeding Patterns of the Asian Tiger Mosquito, <i>Aedes albopictus</i>, in Urban and Suburban Northeastern USA and Implications for Disease Transmission

<div><p>Background</p><p><i>Aedes albopictus</i> is an invasive species which continues expanding its geographic range and involvement in mosquito-borne diseases such as chikungunya and dengue. Host selection patterns by invasive mosquitoes are critically important because they increase endemic disease transmission and drive outbreaks of exotic pathogens. Traditionally, <i>Ae. albopictus</i> has been characterized as an opportunistic feeder, primarily feeding on mammalian hosts but occasionally acquiring blood from avian sources as well. However, limited information is available on their feeding patterns in temperate regions of their expanded range. Because of the increasing expansion and abundance of <i>Ae. albopictus</i> and the escalating diagnoses of exotic pathogens in travelers returning from endemic areas, we investigated the host feeding patterns of this species in newly invaded areas to further shed light on its role in disease ecology and assess the public health threat of an exotic arbovirus outbreak.</p><p>Methodology/Principal Findings</p><p>We identified the vertebrate source of 165 blood meals in <i>Ae. albopictus</i> collected between 2008 and 2011 from urban and suburban areas in northeastern USA. We used a network of Biogents Sentinel traps, which enhance <i>Ae. albopictus</i> capture counts, to conduct our collections of blooded mosquitoes. We also analyzed blooded <i>Culex</i> mosquitoes collected alongside <i>Ae. albopictus</i> in order to examine the composition of the community of blood sources. We found no evidence of bias since as expected <i>Culex</i> blood meals were predominantly from birds (n = 149, 93.7%) with only a small proportion feeding on mammals (n = 10, 6.3%). In contrast, <i>Aedes albopictus</i> fed exclusively on mammalian hosts with over 90% of their blood meals derived from humans (n = 96, 58.2%) and domesticated pets (n = 38, 23.0% cats; and n = 24, 14.6% dogs). <i>Aedes albopictus</i> fed from humans significantly more often in suburban than in urban areas (χ², p = 0.004) and cat-derived blood meals were greater in urban habitats (χ², p = 0.022). Avian-derived blood meals were not detected in any of the <i>Ae. albopictus</i> tested.</p><p>Conclusions/Significance</p><p>The high mammalian affinity of <i>Ae. albopictus</i> suggests that this species will be an efficient vector of mammal- and human-driven zoonoses such as La Crosse, dengue, and chikungunya viruses. The lack of blood meals obtained from birds by <i>Ae. albopictus</i> suggest that this species may have limited exposure to endemic avian zoonoses such as St. Louis encephalitis and West Nile virus, which already circulate in the USA. However, growing populations of <i>Ae. albopictus</i> in major metropolitan urban and suburban centers, make a large autochthonous outbreak of an arbovirus such as chikungunya or dengue viruses a clear and present danger. Given the difficulties of <i>Ae. albopictus</i> suppression, we recommend that public health practitioners and policy makers install proactive measures for the imminent mitigation of an exotic pathogen outbreak.</p></div