Effects of cattle treatment with a cypermethrin/cymiazol spray on survival and reproduction of the dung beetle species Euoniticellus intermedius (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)

Abstract

In a bioassay to determine non-target ecotoxicological effects of a pyrethroid spray (Ektoban®) on dung beetles, dung from both cypermethrin/cymiazol-treated and control cattle was collected one, two, three, five, seven, 14, 21 and 28 days after treatment and fed to a treatment and control group (respectively) of beetles of the species Euoniticellus intermedius (Reiche). This was done to assess whether a spray formulation of cypermethrin may affect dung beetles differently than previously tested pour-on formulations. Following three beetle generations for two weeks each, the experiment retrieved no significant differences in adult or larval survival, egg production, fecundity and fertility between the control and treatment group. These results demonstrated that the used spray formulation of cypermethrin is likely to be far less detrimental to dung beetles than previously tested pour-ons.