Bioassays for Culex (Diptera: Culicidae) mosquito oviposition attractants and stimulants

Bioassay methods for mosquito oviposition attractants and stimulants were developed and compared, using Culex tarsalis Coq. gravid females as test insects, and distilled water, dyed water, or Bermuda grass infusions as the test stimuli. Bioassays with sticky screens covering jars containing volatile test stimuli or with colorless and odorless Triton X100 surfactant in the aqueous oviposition medium demonstrated that gravid mosquitoes were attracted to distilled water, with the attraction increased by the addition of dye, grass infusion, or the steam distillate of grass infusion to the water. A variation of the sticky screen bioassay was used to demonstrate that the grass infusion also contained oviposition stimulants. A forced oviposition bioassay was minimally useful, because it failed to discriminate between a solution known to contain oviposition stimulants and a distilled-water control. Overall, the bioassays developed can be used to distinguish between oviposition attractants and stimulants, a distinction that cannot be made by simply counting egg rafts.