Insecticidal Properties of Several Monoterpenoids to the House Fly (Diptera: Muscidae), Red Flour Beetle (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), and Southern Corn Rootworm (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

Abstract

House flies, Musca domestica (L.), and their eggs were treated with 22 monoterpenoids to determine the topical, fumigant, and ovicidal activity of each compound. Fumigant activity of 14 monoterpenoids were examined further using red flour beetles, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst). Third-instar southern corn rootworm, Diabrotica undecimpunctata howardi Barber, were treated with carvacrol, citral, citronellal, menthol, pulegone, verbenol, and verbenone to determine their activity on larvae. Structure-activity relationships were evaluated with the toxicity data. We made comparisons between monocyclic aromatic, acyclic aliphatic, monocyclic aliphatic, and bicyclic aliphatic alcohols, ketones, aldehydes, and acids to determine toxicity differences involving the skeletal structure, amount of saturation, and associated functional groups of monoterapenoids. Ketones were more effective than alcohols in the topical, fumigant (T. castaneum), and ovicidal bioassays and less toxic than an analogous aldehyde in the topical, fumigant (M. domestica), and ovicidal bioassays. Aldehydes were more toxic than alcohols in the topical and fumigant (M. domestica) bioassays. In the topical and ovicidal bioassays, aromatic or acyclic alcohols, or both, were more effective than monocyclic and bicyclic alcohols. Vapors of bicyclic ketones were more toxic than monocyclic ketones to adult M. domestica. Monoterpenoid alcohols containing three carbon-carbon double bonds were more effective than saturated alcohols in the topical and larval bioassays. A mono-unsaturated ketone was more toxic than a structurally similar saturated ketone and two di-unsaturated ketones when it was applied topically to adult M. domestica. A saturated monocyclic ketone inhibited egg hatch more effectively than unsaturated monocyclic ketones.

Toxicity of Seven Monoterpenoids to Tracheal Mites (Acari: Tarsonemidae) and Their Honey Bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Hosts When Applied as Fumigants

“…Some compounds assayed in this study were more toxic to honey bees than to their A. woodi parasites, although others were more toxic to A. woodi. Results obtained in this study support Rice and Coats' (1994) observations that monoterpenoid potencies vary considerably, and that minor structural differences can elicit major differences in toxicity.…”

“…All monoterpenoid LC so values fell in a narrow range (1.7-17.1 Itg/ml). Rice and Coats (1994) found LCsos in the same range for menthol, pulegone, and citral when applied to Musca domestica L. In their study, menthol, pulegone, and citral had LCsos of 3.6, 9.2, and 13 Itg/ml, respectively. Interestingly, although thymol was the most toxic compound to honey bees examined in this study (LC so of 1.…”

“…Cages were and Muller 1976, Andrews et al 1980, Watanabe et al 1990, and Ikawa et al 1992. Lee et al (1997) and Rice and Coats (1994) are currently investigating structure-activity relationships for monoterpenoids applied to various arthropods.…”

Toxic effects of essential plant oils in adult Sitophilus oryzae (Linnaeus) (Coleoptera, Curculionidae)

“…Monoterpenoid compounds have been tested as control agents for several insect pests in stored grains, working through contact, ingestion, as fumigant or repellant, showing ovicidal effects or acting on the life cycles of insects (Karr & Coats 1988;Rice & Coats 2003;Lee et al 2003). In general, toxicity due to essential oils is related to the most abundant chemical component in the oils Tapondjou et al 2002;Singh et al 2003;Aslan et al 2004).…”

Effect of Artemisia Annua L. (Asterales: Asteraceae) Essential Oil on Mortality, Development, Reproduction and Energy Reserves of Plodia Interpunctella (H u bner).(Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)

“…These insecticides-due to their little side effect on natural enemies, little toxicity on vertebrates and fast degradation in environment -are of special importance [4,5]. Hence, it seems that plant origin insecticides are safe alternatives to traditional insect control measures [6,7]. Among plant products used for pest control, essential oils are used as fumigant [8,9], contact [10][11][12], deterrents [13][14][15] and antifeedants [16].…”