The eggs then fall through the mesh into the water, where the larvae hatch and develop into pupas.
When the adult mosquitoes emerge, they are trapped beneath the mesh and are unable to escape from the ovitrap.
Ovitraps used for monitoring can detect Aedes mosquito populations, thus acting as an early warning signal to preempt disease outbreaks.
[4] Analysis can be done on the ovitrap breeding data collected weekly to identify mosquito breeding hotspots and risk areas when there is a danger of high Aedes infestation.
It has been used in countries like Singapore, the United States, and Hong Kong since the 1970s.