Reactions of larvae of Plodia interpunctella (HB) (LEP., pyralidae) to insecticidal droplets.

Abstract

In tests of the reactions of freshly hatched larvae of Plodia interpunctella (Hb.) to droplets of liquids containing an insecticnde, 16 droplets of the test material were disposed in a ting 23 mm. in diameter on a glass surface. The mean diameter of dtoplets of the different oils used as solvents varied from about 330 to 615 μ. Minute glass beads about 680 μ in diameter were used as controls. The larvae were tested individually by placing them at the ecntre of the ring and noting whether ot not they succeeded in escaping from it without making contact with a droplet, and their time to do so, termed the avoiding-time.Six petroleum hydrocarbon oils, and pyerthrin at different concentrations in one of them (Shell Risella Oil 17) and pyrethrin synergists, piperonyl butoxide and Bucarpolate (2-(2-n-butoxyethoxy)ethyl 3,4-methylenedioxybenzoate), were tested. Droplets containing 20 per cent. pyrethrins proved the most repellent, over 98 per cent. of the larvae avoiding contact with them, whereas only 47.5 per cent. avoided the glass beads. The degree of avoidance elicited by the oils was inversely related to the values of their physical characteristics, such as initial boiling point and mean molecular weight. Increasing concentrations of pyrethrins increased both the degree of avoidance and the avoidingtime, and the addition of piperonyl butoxide or Bucarpolate enhanced both these reactions.