Essential oils and their compositions as spatial repellents for pestiferous social wasps.
BACKGROUND
The study objectives were: (1) to field test potential repellency of common essential oils against several pestiferous social wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae), using attractant-baited traps; (2) to identify vespid antennally active compounds from the repellent essential oils; (3) to determine potential repellency of these electroantennographic detection (EAD) active compounds in the field.


RESULTS
Of the 21 essential oils tested, 17 showed significant repellency on yellowjackets [mainly Vespula pensylvanica (Saussure)] and paper wasps [mainly Polistes dominulus (Christ)]: clove, pennyroyal, lemongrass, ylang ylang, spearmint, wintergreen, sage, rosemary, lavender, geranium, patchouli, citronella, Roman chamomile, thyme, fennel seed, anise and peppermint. Two essential oil mixtures - 3EO-mix (clove, geranium and lemongrass) and 4EO-mix (clove, geranium, lemongrass and rosemary) - totally blocked the attraction of vespid workers. Twenty-nine vespid antennally active compounds were identified from solid-phase microextraction (SPME) samples of 11 strongly repellent essential oils by GC-EAD/MS techniques. Among the synthetic EAD-active compounds field tested, eugenol, P/I-menthone, pulegone, α/β-thujone, l-carvone, E/Z-citral, citronellal, methyl benzoate, benzyl acetate, methyl salicylate and 3-octanol showed a significant repellency on vespid workers. These compounds are likely responsible for the repellency of their corresponding essential oils.


CONCLUSIONS
These repellent essential oils and their active compositions have great potential for efficient, environmentally sound semiochemical-based IPM of pestiferous vespid wasps.
Sterling International, Inc., 3808 N. Sullivan Rd, Bldg 16, Spokane, WA 99216-1630, USA. qing-he@rescue.com
Qing-He
QH
Zhang
Rodney G
RG
Schneidmiller
Doreen R
DR
Hoover
D000818:Animals; D057506:Arthropod Antennae / Q000502:physiology; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D007302:Insect Repellents / Q000032:analysis*; D009822:Oils, Volatile / Q000737:chemistry*; D052617:Solid Phase Microextraction; D014863:Wasps
D007302:Insect Repellents; D009822:Oils, Volatile