TABLE 1.
Evidence of insecticide induced hormesis in insects.
| Target insect | Chemical stressor1 (sublethal doses) | Reported effects | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Acheta domesticus (Orthoptera; house cricket) |
12 different insecticides | Growth stimulation (weight) | Luckey (1968) |
|
Aphis citricola (Homoptera; spirea aphid) |
aldicarb | Reduced developmental time; increased longevity, fecundity, and weight | Neubauer et al. (1983) |
|
Aphis rumicis (Homoptera; bean aphid) |
rotenone | Enhanced reproduction | Sun (1945) |
|
Bemisia tabaci (Homoptera; whitefly) |
fenvalerate, acephate | Stimulated oviposition | Abdullah and Joginder (2004) |
|
Blaberus craniifer (Blattaria; death’s head cockroach) |
charybdotoxin | Increased vitellogenesis | Goudey-Perribre et al. (1997) |
|
Bracon hebetor (Hymenoptera; braconid wasp) |
DDT | Stimulated oviposition | Grosch and Valcovic (1967) |
|
Ceratitis capitata (Diptera; Mediterranean fruit fly) |
Metarhizium anisopliae crude extract | Decreased pupal mortality | Ortiz-Urquiza et al. (2010) |
|
Choristoneura fumiferana (Lepidoptera; spruce budworm) |
fenitrothion, phosphamidon | Increased weight, Ca++, and total protein production | Smirnoff (1983) |
|
Choristoneura rosaceana (Lepidoptera; obliquebanded leafroller) |
pyriproxyfen | Increased weight of pupae and adults | Sial and Brunner (2010) |
|
Chrysopa californica (Neuroptera; lacewing) |
DDT | Stimulated oviposition | Fleschner and Scriven (1957) |
|
Coleomegilla maculata (Coleoptera; lady bird beetle) |
DDT | Stimulated oviposition | Atallah and Newson (1966) |
|
Cydia pomonella (Lepidoptera; codling moth) |
azinphos-methyl | Stimulated copulation and oviposition | Abivardi et al. (1998) |
|
Diabrotica virgifera (Coleoptera; western corn rootworm) |
carbofuran, carbaryl | Stimulated oviposition, increased longevity | Ball and Su (1979) |
|
Drosophila melanogaster2 (Diptera; fruit fly) |
dieldrin | Enhanced longevity | Knutson (1955) |
|
Dysdercus koenigii (Heroptera; red cotton bug) |
eucalyptus oil volatiles | Reduced duration of post-embryonic development | Srivastava et al. (1995) |
|
Folsomia candida (Collembola; springtail) |
nonylphenol | Stimulated body length and fecundity | Widarto et al. (2007) |
|
Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Coleoptera; Colorado potato beetle) |
novaluron | Increased larval weight | Cutler et al. (2005) |
|
Leptopilina heterotoma (Hymenoptera; Drosophila parasitoid) |
chlorpyrifos | Stimulated host searching | Rafalimanana et al. (2002); Delpuech et al. (2005) |
|
Musca domestica (Diptera; house fly) |
dieldrin, DDT, BHC, chlordane, aldrin, diazinon, malathion | Increased fecundity, fertility and/or weight | Afifi and Knutson (1956); Ouye and Knutson (1957); Hunter et al. (1958) |
|
Myzus persicae (Homoptera; green peach aphid) |
azinphosmethyl, fenvalerate, imidacloprid | Stimulated reproduction | Gordon and McEwen (1984); Jackson and Wilkins (1985); Lowery and Sears (1986a; 1986b); Cutler et al. (2009); Yu et al. (2010) |
|
Nilaparvata lugens (Homoptera; brown planthopper) |
decamethrin, methyl parathion | Enhanced fecundity | Chilliah et al. (1980); Chilliah and Heinrichs (1980) |
|
Phormia regina (Diptera; queen blow fly) |
cadmium | Enhanced pupation | Nascarella et al. (2003) |
|
Plutella xylostella (Lepidoptera; diamondback moth) |
fenvalerate, methomyl | Increased fecundity | Sota et al. (1998); Fujiwara et al. (2002) |
|
Podisus distinctus (Heteroptera; predatory stinkbug) |
permethrin | Increased egg viability, increased net reproduction | Magalhães et al. (2002); Guedes et al. (2009); Zanuncio et al. (2011) |
|
Podisus nigrispinus (Heteroptera; predatory stinkbug) |
gammacyhalothrin | Increased survival and longevity | Pereira et al. (2009) |
|
Porcellio scaber (Isopoda; woodlouse) |
dimethoate | Increased hyperactivity (locomotion) | Bayley and Baatrup (1996) |
|
Pyrrhocoris apterus (Heteroptera; fire bug) |
thiometon | Stimulated oviposition | Honěk and Novák (1977) |
|
Rhynocoris kumarii (Heteroptera; reduviid predator) |
endosulfan | Increased fecundity and longevity | George and Ambrose (1999) |
|
Scirtothrips citri (Thysanoptera; citrus thrips) |
dicofol, fluvalinate, formetanate, malathion | Stimulated reproduction | Morse and Zareh (1991) |
|
Sitophilus granarius (Coleoptera; stored product weevil) |
DDT | Stimulated reproduction | Keunen (1958) |
|
Sitophilus zeamais (Curculionidae; maize weevil) |
deltamethrin | Population growth | Guedes et al. (2010) |
|
Spodoptera littoralis (Lepidoptera; Egyptian cotton leafworm) |
carbaryl, methyl parathion, deltamethrin | Stimulated oviposition | Esaac et al. (1972) |
| deltamethrin | Enhanced number of ovarioles, oviposition and life span of adult females | Kanaoka et al. (1996) | |
|
Supputius cincticeps (Heteroptera; predatory stinkbug) |
permethrin | Reduced pre-oviposition period, increased survival and weight | Zanuncio et al. (2003, 2005) |
|
Tribolium castaneum (Coleoptera; red flour beetle) |
azadirachtin | Enhanced survival, adult emergence, larval weight and fecundity | Ramachandran et al. (1988) |
| azadirachtin | Stimulated esterase production | Mukherjee et al. (1993) | |
|
Zabrotes subfasciatus (Coleoptera; Mexican bean weevil) |
Tetradenia riparia extract | Increased oviposition and adult emergence | Weaver et al. (1992) |
1
Entomopathogens and insecticidal botanical extracts are included.
2
Drosophila melanogaster has been used extensively as a model to study hormesis in biomedical research. Only one citation is mentioned here as the main focus is agriculturally based pesticide-induced hormesis.