Circadian rhythm changes in toxicity of the insecticide dieldrin on larvae of the migratory locust Locusta migratoria migratorioides.

Circadian changes in toxicity of the insecticide dieldrin were documented in the larvae (fifth stage) of the migratory locust, Locusta migratoria migratorioides. Insects were housed under light (L): dark (D) = 12:12, with L from 0800 to 2000 h. Topical applications of dieldrin at fixed clock hours, with doses ranging from 0.1 to 8 micrograms/gm body weight, were carried out in a series of experiments on male and female larvae. Twenty-four h after dosing, mortality was recorded to quantify the median lethal dose (LD50) values with reference to time of treatment. Experiments were performed during February, early and late June, and August. Larvae were more susceptible to dieldrin when dosed during the night rather than during the day [analysis of variance (ANOVA); p less than 0.05]. Moreover, female larvae were less susceptible to dieldrin than were male larvae (ANOVA; p less than 0.05). Cosinor analysis revealed circadian rhythms in susceptibility-resistance to the insecticide in all experiments except no. 2. Toxicity was found to be greatest during the nighttime. Cosinor analysis of pooled data of the four experiments documented circadian rhythmicity to toxicity of dieldrin in female but not in male larvae. Regardless of sex, the timing of least susceptibility (greatest resistance and highest LD50 value) to the insecticide, dieldrin, was around 1500.