251 - Mosquito Magnet Executive Trapping for Neighborhood protection from Mosquitoes – a 2-year study

Commercial mosquito traps powered by electricity or propane are advertised to protect homeowners from biting insects. The Mosquito Magnet Executive (MME) trap claims to protect an acre of land from biting mosquitoes and is sold to homeowners for that purpose. The study was conducted on Sanibel Island off the west coast of Lee County in Southwest Florida, in the Gulf of Mexico. Aedes taeniorhynchus, the Black Saltmarsh Mosquito, breeds as heavily here as anywhere in the state including the Everglades. A 2-year study looking at the effect of placing 33 MME traps in a neighborhood on Sanibel Island, was started in early 2021 and continued into 2022. Testing was terminated early in 2022 due to Hurricane Ian that flooded the island and destroyed all of the traps that had been stored prior to the storm. Preliminary findings from both years of study will be presented.