Botanical inseticides of Murcia lundiana on leaf- cutting ants

Abstract

Cutting ants are important pests in agriculture and forestry and difficult to control. Essential plant oils are an efficient and sustainable alternative to the use of conventional insecticides for the control of insect pests. The existence of chemo- types allows the production of different essential oils with different biological activities. The objective of this work was to evaluate the formicidal activity of the essential oils of two Myrcia lundiana chemotypes on workers of the cutter ant Acromyrmex balzani. The essential oils were obtained by hydrodistillation in a Clevenger apparatus and analyzed by GC / MS / DIC. The toxicity bioassays were performed via fumigation to obtain lethal concentrations. The results obtained in this study indicate the potential formicide of the essential oils of M. lundiana on the cutter ant A. balzani.