Repellency of methyl jasmonate to Ixodes ricinus nymphs (Acari: Ixodidae).
In our search for tick repellents of plant origin, to be used as alternatives to commercial arthropod repellents, we investigated the effect of the well known plant signaling compound methyl jasmonate (MJ) using nymphs of the tick Ixodes ricinus. In laboratory tests, pieces of cloth with MJ at 0.075, 0.15, 0.30 and 0.75 mg/cm2 yielded increasing repellencies against the nymphs: 57%, 71%, 92% and 99%, respectively, of the nymphs did not cling to the cloth. Repellency of MJ was also investigated in a tick-infested woodland area in central Sweden. Cotton flannel cloths sprayed with 0.05, 0.1 or 0.2 mg/cm2 MJ dissolved in acetone were dragged over the ground vegetation. The numbers of nymphs on the treated cloths were significantly lower than those on the untreated cloth. Thus, MJ has, at the concentrations tested, significant repellent activity against I. ricinus nymphs.
Garboui
Samira S
SS
Medical Entomology Unit, Department of Systematic Zoology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18D, Uppsala 75236, Sweden.
Jaenson
Thomas G T
TG
Borg-Karlson
Anna-Karin
AK
Pålsson
Katinka
K
D000085:Acetates; D000818:Animals; D003517:Cyclopentanes; D007302:Insect Repellents; D018884:Ixodes; D009758:Nymph; D054883:Oxylipins; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
D000085:Acetates; D003517:Cyclopentanes; D007302:Insect Repellents; D054883:Oxylipins; C072239:methyl jasmonate