How can horseflies be captured by solar panels? A new concept of tabanid traps using light polarization and electricity produced by photovoltaics

Veterinary Parasitology
Miklós BlahóGábor Horváth

Abstract

Horseflies (Diptera: Tabanidae) can cause severe problems for humans and livestock because of the continuous annoyance performed and the diseases vectored by the haematophagous females. Therefore, effective horsefly traps are in large demand, especially for stock-breeders. To catch horseflies, several kinds of traps have been developed, many of them attracting these insects visually with the aid of a black ball. The recently discovered positive polarotaxis (attraction to horizontally polarized light) in several horsefly species can be used to design traps that capture female and male horseflies. The aim of this work is to present the concept of such a trap based on two novel principles: (1) the visual target of the trap is a horizontal solar panel (photovoltaics) attracting polarotactic horseflies by means of the highly and horizontally polarized light reflected from the photovoltaic surface. (2) The horseflies trying to touch or land on the photovoltaic trap surface are perished by the mechanical hit of a wire rotated quickly with an electromotor supplied by the photovoltaics-produced electricity. Thus, the photovoltaics is bifunctional: its horizontally polarized reflected light signal attracts water-seeking, polarotactic hor...Continue Reading

References

Feb 1, 1976·Australian Veterinary Journal·D M Hunter, D E Moorhouse
Mar 1, 1992·Journal of Medical Entomology·L J HribarL D Foil
Jun 14, 1990·The New England Journal of Medicine·S W Luger
Apr 28, 1972·Journal of Medical Entomology·T R AdkinsM M Askey
Sep 16, 1998·Medical and Veterinary Entomology·M J HallJ E Chainey
Sep 21, 2002·Bulletin of Entomological Research·S Mihok
Mar 1, 1989·Parasitology Today·L D Foil
Sep 17, 2005·Insect Molecular Biology·R J L MunksM J Lehane
Feb 6, 2008·Medical and Veterinary Entomology·K van HennekelerG A Bellis
Nov 4, 2008·The Journal of Experimental Biology·Amit LernerMeir Broza
Feb 5, 2010·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Gábor HorváthSusanne Akesson
May 12, 2010·Conservation Biology : the Journal of the Society for Conservation Biology·Gábor HorváthBruce Robertson
Dec 14, 2011·Medical and Veterinary Entomology·S Mihok, K Lange

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Citations

Apr 15, 2014·Infection, Genetics and Evolution : Journal of Molecular Epidemiology and Evolutionary Genetics in Infectious Diseases·Frédéric BaldacchinoSathaporn Jittapalapong
May 13, 2020·Medical and Veterinary Entomology·T BučanovićS Krčmar

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Cajal Bodies & Gems

Cajal bodies or coiled bodies are dense foci of coilin protein. Gemini of Cajal bodies, or gems, are microscopically similar to Cajal bodies. It is believed that Cajal bodies play important roles in RNA processing while gems assist the Cajal bodies. Find the latest research on Cajal bodies and gems here.