Proof of Concept of Biopolymer Based Hydrogels as Biomimetic Oviposition Substrate to Develop Tiger Mosquitoes (Aedes albopictus) Cost‐Effective Lure and Kill Ovitraps

Pest management is looking for green and cost‐effective innovative solutions to control tiger mosquitoes and other pests. By using biomimetic principles and biocompatible/biodegradable biopolymers, it could be possible to develop a new approach based on substrates that selectively attract insects by reproducing specific natural environmental conditions and then kill them by host-ing and delivering a natural biopesticide or through mechanical action (biomimetic lure and kill approach, BL&K). Such an approach can be theoretically specialized against tiger mosquitoes (BL&K‐TM) by designing hydrogels to imitate the natural oviposition site’s conditions to employ them inside a lure and kill ovitraps as a biomimetic oviposition substrate. In this work, the hydro-gels have been prepared to prove the concept. The study compares lab/on‐field oviposition between standard substrates (absorbing paper/masonite) and a physical and chemically crosslinked hydro-gel composition panel. Then the best performing is characterized to evaluate a correlation between the hydrogel’s properties and oviposition. Tests identify a 2‐Hydroxyethylcellulose (HEC)‐based physical hydrogel preparation as five times more attractive than the control in a lab oviposition assay. When employed on the field in a low‐cost cardboard trap, the same substrate is seven times more capturing than a standard masonite ovitrap, with a duration four times longer.