Marvellous Mosquito Gathering

Singapore flag

I was walking along a street in Singapore when I saw a black cylinder on the ground with writing on it. I wondered what it was. It was low on the ground, writing too small to see, and I was in a hurry to get home. So I took a photo to read later.

Gravitrap in Singapore Street. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright

Back at base I found the name on it. Gravitrap.

I looked this up and was amazed. The first fact was that it was to trap mosquitos.

Nearby is a sign about the area being a hotspot for cases of dengue fever.

Aedes aegypti, a common vector of dengue fever and yellow fever

Muhammad Mahdi Karim - Own work

Aedes aegypti in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

However, the really exciting thing about the devices is that they used to get inspected by government officials every two weeks, and could be used to tell details about the type of mosquito. There are many types of mosquito. Malaria carrying mosquito. Mosquitos bearing dengue fever. And more.

But now the new type of mosquito trap sends the information back to base automatically, saving time and trouble.

Useful Websites
Gravitraps
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3752753/

singaporeair.com
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Singapore

About the author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.