Abstract

The simultaneous use for the purpose of comparison of human bait catch and light trap collection for sampling anopheles populations specially the Anopheles gambiae s.l. in the area of Bignona, Senegal shows that: light traps provide more information on the specific composition of anopheles fauna; the performance of light traps and that of human baits are comparable indoor during the period of high density of anopheles. Outdoor, light traps catch fourth less females A. gambiae. But the two methods always vary in the same pattern and identically reflect the density variations of the populations; there is no significant difference between the repletion status, the physiological age and the sporozoite index of females A. gambiae s.l. collected with each of the 2 methods. Light trap collection may therefore be considered a reliable sampling method for A. gambiae s.l. specially inside houses in some areas where this method can efficiently permit to complete the human bait catch for a malaria transmission study.