Mozzie Pot on Display

The Mabo Library in Townsville  is displaying a collaborative research product created by JCU and University Federal de Minas Gerais staff which will soon be commercially available. It is a device that residents of the torrid tropical zone will appreciate and its called The Mozzie Pot. You can view it near Juliette's Gelato and Coffee shop on the ground floor.  International students and staff to our Tropical university probably now know the blood sucking mosquito is called a mozzie in Australia.

The Mozzie Pot is a revolutionary design in mosquito traps that uses transparent panels to confuse and trap mosquitoes. The concept for the design initially came to Professor Scott Ritchie from James Cook University when he saw mud crabs struggling to escape from a crab pot.

The Mozzie Pot selectively attracts and kills female mosquitoes that carry dengue, such as Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. The Mozzie Pot initially lures mosquitoes in using stagnant water, but once inside the design makes use of the trapped mosquitoes’ innate escape behavior to prevent them from escaping. In trials at James Cook University 90% of mosquitoes entering the Mozzie Pot were not able to escape.

The Mozzie Pot can be used for disease monitoring, by testing the captured mosquitoes for the presence of dengue virus, and also for infection by the dengue-blocking bacteria Wolbachia, which are used in the Eliminate Dengue program. The trap can also be used to capture the Asian Tiger Mosquito, an invasive mosquito that is currently in the Torres Strait and threatens to invade the Australian mainland. The Mozzie Pot is especially useful in developing countries, where electrical power is not available.

James Cook University through the Innovation and Commercialisation team has licensed the Mozzie Pot to the German mosquito-control company Biogents, who are currently manufacturing the trap for worldwide sale.