Exposure of a diurnal mosquito vector to floral mimics: Foraging responses, feeding patterns, and significance for sugar bait technology

•We assessed the foraging activities of Aedes aegypti exposed to rewarding artificial flowers.•Ae. aegypti exhibited more rapid responses to colored flowers when in equal competition with single white flowers (SWFs).•Both sexes preferred colored flowers over SWFs for visitation and sugar feeding.•Ae. aegypti preferentially rested on colored flowers when in competition with SWFs, but showed different sexual preference patterns.•These results indicate that both sexes of Ae. aegypti are responsive to flower mimics and such knowledge can be exploited to improve sugar bait technology or develop new attract-and-kill devices.