In mass rearing of anopheline mosquitoes, pupae are usually separated from larvae on a daily basis to prevent unwanted adult emergence from trays. Depending on the device and species, 2 physical characteristics have most often been used for separation: buoyant density and size. In this report, we describe a system for continuous separation of Anopheles arabiensis larvae from pupae based on the natural difference in buoyant density and behavior between the 2 stages. We determined that temperatures 4–15°C caused neither mortality nor reduction in likelihood of pupation or emergence. Separation improved as temperatures decreased down to 4°C. We devised and demonstrated a 15°C water vortex separator that we anticipate can process approximately 1 million larvae and pupae per hour with a <0.3% pupal contamination rate and which operates unattended.
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1 September 2011
Mosquito Mass Rearing Technology: A Cold-Water Vortex Device for Continuous Unattended Separation of Anopheles arabiensis Pupae from Larvae
Fabrizio Balestrino,
Jérémie R. L. Gilles,
Sharon M. Soliban,
Anton Nirschl,
Quentin E. Benedict,
Mark Q. Benedict
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genetic control
malaria
mass rearing
mechanization
sterile insect technique