Electrophysiological and behavioral responses of red imported fire ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) to an essential balm and its components

BACKGROUND An over-the-counter medicine product of China known as essential balm effectively repelled red imported fire ants, Solenopsis invicta Buren. However, it was not clear which chemical component(s) accounted for the repellency, and whether they would effectively repel S. invicta in the field. RESULTS Five components, eucalyptol, camphor, menthol, methyl salicylate, and eugenol, were identified in essential balm using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Each component elicited concentration-dependent electroantennography (EAG) response. Under field conditions, all components showed repellency against foraging ants. Interestingly, foraging ants managed to access the food items placed on a surface smeared with eucalyptol, camphor, menthol, or methyl salicylate by depositing soil particles on the surface and then walking on soil particles. However, they failed to do so when the surface was smeared with eugenol. Repellency of eugenol lasted for > 24 h, which was much longer than that of the other four components of essential balm and is comparable to that of N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide (DEET), the standard for insect repellants. CONCLUSION Olfactory response of S. invicta to all five components of the essential balm was confirmed. Each component showed repellency against S. invicta workers in the field. However, only eugenol significantly suppressed both foraging and particle-covering behavior within 24 h. The repellent effect of eugenol lasted much longer than the other four components. Particle-covering behavior has been largely ignored in studying fire ant repellants. Our study demonstrated that it is necessary to consider such behaviors in ant repellent bioassays in the future.

Automated summary

Essential balm from China effectively repelled red imported fire ants, with each of its five components showing repellency in the field. Among the components, eugenol had the longest-lasting repellent effect.