2-Imidazolidinone as an Insect Growth Inhibitor and Chemosterilant

Abstract

2-Imidazolidinone has been found to possess some unique properties affecting insect growth and development. Drosophila melanogaster Meigen larvae develop normally in media treated with 50 to 100 ppm of 2-imidazolidinone, but adults fail to emerge from the pupae. This compound affected growth and development of the immature stages of the house fly, Musca domustica. L.; the large milkweed bug, Oncopeltus fasciatus (Dallas); the corn earworm, Heliothis zea (Boddie); the mosquito Anopheles albimanus Wiedemann; the stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans (L.); and the western spotted cucumber beetle, Diabrotica undecimpunctata Mannerheim. 2-Imidazolidinone was found also to be a house fly sterilant when flies were fed either liquid or solid treated bait. Unlike the house fly, both sexes of the large milkweed bug are sterilized when nymphs are fed solutions of 2-imidazolidinone for several days. However, it was ineffective as a chemosterilant when insects were exposed to treated surfaces. 2-Imidazolidinone inhibits house fly development in the excrement of poultry fed 500 ppm either in the drinking water or in the solid ration. At this level. 12 ppm of the toxicant were found in the egg; it was also distributed uniformly in various tissues.