The efficiency of the Mosquito Magnet Liberty Plus
TM (MMLP) trap was evaluated in comparison to human-landing catches (HLCs) to sample anopheline populations in Jabillal, state of Bolivar, southern Venezuela. The village comprised 37 houses and a population of 101; malaria in this village is primarily due to
Plasmodium vivax
and the Annual Parasite Index is 316.8 per 1,000 population. A longitudinal study was conducted between June 2008-January 2009 for three nights per month every two months between 17:30 pm-21:30 pm, a time when biting mosquitoes are most active.
Anopheles darlingi
and
Anopheles nuneztovari
were the most common species collected by both methods, whereas
Anopheles marajoara
was more abundant according to the HLC method. The MMLP trap was more efficient for collecting
An. nuneztovari [63%, confidence interval (CI): 2.53] than for collecting
An. darlingi (31%, CI: 1.57). There were significant correlations (p < 0.01) between the two methods for
An. darlingi [Pearson correlation (R
2) = 0.65] and
An. nuneztovari (R
2 = 0.48). These preliminary results are encouraging for further investigations of the use of the MMLP trap for monitoring anopheline populations in remote malaria-endemic areas in the Amazon Basin.
