Bioactivities of some essential oils against the camel nasal botfly, Cephalopina titillator.

Nasopharyngeal myiasis of camels is caused by the larvae of Cephalopina titillator. We determined the efficacy of essential oils (EOs) of pumpkin, Cucurbita maxima; lupinus, Lupinus luteus; garlic oil, Allium sativum; and peppermint, Mentha piperita, against the third larval stage of C. titillator using larval immersion tests. The positive control group was treated with ivermectin and the negative control one was treated with distilled water and few drops of Tween 80. Larvae were reared until adult emergence. The data indicated that complete larval mortalities were reached 24 h post treatment (PT) with 2 % pumpkin, 7.5 % garlic and peppermint, 30 % lupinus, and 0.15 % ivermectin. The lethal values, LC50s, were 0.20, 0.44, 0.42, 0.47, and 0.03 %, respectively. Pumpkin and ivermectin were 2 and 17 times, respectively, more effective than the other EOs. Ivermectin was seven times more intoxicating than pumpkin oil. Formation of pupae had been stopped after treatment of larvae with 2 % pumpkin, 7.5 % garlic and peppermint, 30 % lupines, and 0.04 % ivermectin. Adult emergence had been completely ceased following treatment of larvae with 0.5 % EOs and 0.04 % ivermectin. Morphological abnormalities were pronounced after treatments, and peppermint oil was the foremost cause of deformation in larvae (44 % PT with 7.5 %) and pupae (40 % PT with 2 %). Pumpkin oil (6 %) was selected to be the drug of choice for controlling C. titillator. Besides their insecticidal effects, EOs are much safer than ivermectin regarding health and environmental issues. Consequently, EOs described herein merit further study as potential nasal drench for C. titillator control.