NEVBD internship (summer 2024) with Cape Cod Mosquito Control Project

Sorting the insects collected and looking for the mosquitoes!  The past two weeks have been very eventful for finding and collecting mosquitoes. The mosquito trap locations that I cover are part of the Mid, Lower, and Outer regions of Cape Cod. For the people not from Cape Cod, or who have not spent considerable time here, these regions span from Barnstable to Provincetown. I am on the road every day in a green pickup truck going around Cape Cod setting up mosquito traps (gravid and light traps) and then the next day going back to collect the captured mosquitoes. Once I've collected the mosquitoes (and other flying insects) I return to the lab to freeze the samples in the deep freezer. After about an hour the sample is ready to be sorted and the mosquitoes are waiting to be identified.  P.s. the contents of this trap had a lot of other insects besides mosquitoes like moths, beetles, and nats.  David

A picture of me inspecting the contents of the light trap net.      Hello, I am David Piccirilli, a biology student at UVM, class of 2025. I took the internship opportunity with the Cape Cod Mosquito Control Project (CCMCP) because I wanted to learn more about mosquitoes and vector /disease ecology. Also a bonus, I love being outside and enjoying the summertime in Cape Cod, MA. I am excited to learn about mosquito trapping techniques as well as test my knowledge of mosquito identification. Mosquitoes are a vital factor when considering human public health and ecosystem health. Mosquitoes are responsible for transmitting many diseases to birds and mammals. CCMCP is focused on the spread of Eastern Equine Encephalitis, West Nile virus, and Jamestown Canyon virus. Our organization aims to understand the species diversity of mosquitoes in Cape Cod and participate in ongoing research of the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources related to mosquito disease testing. 

I am officially done with the first week. I am excited to say that I think this internship is going to be very fun and I am looking fowared to the rest of the summer! This week I learned about gravid traps and light traps. We have many locations all around Cape Cod, MA that are near marsh lands, salt marshes, and bogs. Mostly anywhere water pools for a longer amount of time. Mosquitoes love wetlands to breed new generations of tiny blood hunrgy vectors. My job is to set up and collect mosqutioes from trap collection sites and take them back to the lab, so the species can be identifiyed. I am still trying to learn the minute details that differentiate the 50 species of Massachusetts. I have seen mostly Aedes and Ochlerotatus genus mosquitoes and I have had find the differences between Aedes vexans, Ochlerotatus abserratus, Ochlerotatus canadensis, Ochlerotatus cantator, and Ochlerotatus excrucians. Also, I have started studying for the pesticide applicators license test which I hope to