Toxicity and Sublethal Effects of Cantharidin on Musca domestica (Diptera: Muscidae)

Abstract

The house fly, Musca domestica L. (Diptera: Muscidae), is a major pest of medical and veterinary importance all over the world. Management efforts for house flies are usually compromised owing to their resistance to many groups of conventional insecticides. Cantharidin, a natural toxin produced by meloid beetles, is a biopesticide with a reported toxicity to some insect pests including house flies. However, the effects of cantharidin on biological and fitness parameters of house flies have not yet been investigated. In the present study, we investigated the toxicity and sublethal effects of cantharidin on biological parameters of house flies for two consecutive generations. The results revealed that the values of LC50, LC25, LC10, and LC2 against house flies were to be 2.45, 1.23, 0.66, and 0.30 mg/liter, respectively. Sublethal effects of these concentrations on the development and reproduction parameters of house flies revealed that cantharidin reduced population growth by affecting pupation rate, adult emergence, and by lengthening developmental time. The female ratio, fecundity, egg hatching, and survival of adult flies were significantly reduced at LC2, LC10, LC25, and LC50 of cantharidin when compared with the control group. Furthermore, the increase in concentration of cantharidin had a significant effect on reducing the mean values of mean relative growth rate, net reproductive rate (Ro), intrinsic rate of natural increase (rm), and biotic potential (bp). In conclusion, the results of this study revealed the toxicity of cantharidin against house flies and the adverse effects of sublethal concentrations on biological parameters which may have positive implications for effective management of house flies.

ZnO nanoparticles produced in the culture supernatant of Bacillus thuringiensis ser. israelensis affect the demographic parameters of Musca domestica using the age‐stage, two‐sex life table

“…Exposure to low concentrations of ZnO‐ Bti ‐supernatant nanoparticles resulted in a longer preadult duration, preoviposition period, and reduced fecundity, reduced preadult survival and reduced longevity, in a concentration‐dependent manner. Similar lethal and sublethal effects of insecticides have been reported in different insect pests 35, 73, 74 . For instance, lethal and sublethal concentrations of pyriproxyfen and cantharidin had negative effects on the biology of M. domestica 37, 73 .…”

“…35,73,74 For instance, lethal and sublethal concentrations of pyriproxyfen and cantharidin had negative effects on the biology of M. domestica. 37,73 The negative effects of ZnO-Bti-supernatant nanoparticles on the biology of M. domestica are in line with the concept that exposure to pesticide may exert changes in the performance of biological parameters of the survivors. 75 These changes could be either negative, as reported in the current study, or positive (hormesis effect), as reported in other studies on different insect pests.…”

Monitoring Susceptibility to Spinosad in Three Major Stored-Product Insect Species from Punjab, Pakistan

“…The median lethal concentrations (LC 50s ) were calculated using the software SPSS v. 10 for windows (Bryman and Cramer, 2002). The LC 50 values of each insect strain were compared with those of the corresponding laboratory susceptible reference strains, and the status of the spinosad susceptibility were scaled by following Khan et al (2017).…”

“…Similarly, Huang et al (2004) reported that different field strains of C. ferrugineus, T. castaneum, and Plodia interpunctella showed varying levels of resistance to spinosad compared with the corresponding laboratory strains. Such type of variations in susceptibility to a particular insecticide might be due to differences in insecticide exposure history, insects' mobility, insecticide penetration and/or metabolism (Sehgal et al, 2013;Yasoob et al, 2017).…”

The Inhibition of Serine/Threonine Protein Phosphatase Type 5 Mediates Cantharidin Toxicity to Control Periplaneta americana (L.)

“…In the last century, there was a report indicating that CTD has the capacity to deter insects [ 23 ]. More recent reports indicate that CTD has contact, stomach, or repellent insecticidal toxicity against many pests, including Plutella xylostella (L.) , Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner), Mythimna separate (Walker), Cydia pomonella (L.), and Musca domestica (L.) [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ]. Meanwhile, CTD also shows antifungal activity [ 31 ].…”