The repellency of pinenes against the house fly, Musca domestica

The house fly, Musca domestica, is a common non-biting nuisance fly that is capable of transmitting pathogens to humans and non-human animals via mechanical transmission, regurgitation, and/or defecation. Repellents may be useful components of a control strategy to dissuade vectors from contacting critical surfaces. Insect repellents derived from natural products may be more desirable than currently available synthetic repellents, provided they possess lower toxicity and equivalent repellent properties. We have utilized a behavioral bioassay using a Y-tube olfactometer to determine if α-pinene (both enantiomers), a plant secondary metabolite, is repellent to the adult house fly. Individual flies were introduced into the Y-tube olfactometer and exposed to pinene solution and vehicle control odors and the initial pathway chosen by the fly was recorded. Contact repellency was also investigated when flies were introduced into contact repellency assay tubes and the time spent on either surface (control or repellent) was recorded. Our study revealed that solutions of S and R α-pinene repelled adult male and female M. domestica at most concentrations tested.