Insecticides are substances used to kill insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against insect eggs and larvae, respectively. Insecticides are used in agriculture, medicine, industry and by consumers. Insecticides are claimed to be a major factor behind the increase in the 20th-century's agricultural productivity. Nearly all insecticides have the potential to significantly alter ecosystems; many are toxic to humans and/or animals; some become concentrated as they spread along the food chain.
Cypermethrin (CP) is a synthetic pyrethroid used as an insecticide in large-scale commercial agricultural applications as well as in consumer products for domestic purposes. It behaves as a fast-acting neurotoxin in insects. It is easily degraded on soil and plants but can be effective for weeks when applied to indoor inert surfaces. Exposure to sunlight, water and oxygen will accelerate its decomposition. Cypermethrin is highly toxic to fish, bees and aquatic insects, according to the National Pesticides Telecommunications Network (NPTN). It is found in many household ant and cockroach killers, including Raid, Ortho, Combat, and ant chalk.
Roach bait is a modern pest control used for the extermination of cockroaches at indoor locations. The effectiveness of this method of pest control exploits the cannibalistic and coprophagic tendencies of cockroaches.
Regent is a trademark for a broad spectrum systemic insecticide containing the active ingredient fipronil. Fipronil is an insecticide discovered and developed by Rhône-Poulenc between 1985–87. It was placed on the market in 1993. Regent's rights have been purchased by BASF. It acts by contact and stomach action on the insect. Fipronil is marketed in many developed and developing countries.
The bootlace worm is a species of ribbon worm and one of the longest known animals, with specimens up to 55 m (180 ft) long being reported, although this has not been confirmed. Its mucus is highly toxic.
Acaricides are pesticides that kill members of the arachnid subclass Acari, which includes ticks and mites. Acaricides are used both in medicine and agriculture, although the desired selective toxicity differs between the two fields.
The oriental cockroach, also known as the waterbug or black beetle, is a large species of cockroach, adult males being 18–29 mm (0.71–1.14 in) and adult females being 20–27 mm (0.79–1.06 in). It is dark brown or black in color and has a glossy body. The female has a somewhat different appearance from the male, appearing to be wingless at casual glance, but is brachypterous, having non-functional wings just below her head. She has a wider body than the male. The male has long wings, which cover two-thirds of the abdomen and are brown in color, and has a narrower body. Both sexes are flightless. The female oriental cockroach looks somewhat similar to the Florida woods cockroach, and may be mistaken for it. Originally endemic to the Crimean Peninsula and the region around the Black Sea and Caspian Sea, its distribution is now cosmopolitan.
The Asian cockroach, is a species of cockroach that was first described in 1981 from insects collected on Okinawa Island, Japan. It is a small species of cockroach, and typically are 1.3 to 1.6 cm long and is tan to dark brown in colour with dark parallel stripes on the back of their head. It is commonly mistaken with the German cockroach for their similar appearance. It is commonly found in the United States in and around houses.
Fipronil is a broad-spectrum insecticide that belongs to the phenylpyrazole chemical family. Fipronil disrupts the insect central nervous system by blocking GABA-gated chloride channels and glutamate-gated chloride (GluCl) channels. This causes hyperexcitation of contaminated insects' nerves and muscles. Fipronil's specificity towards insects is believed to be due to its greater affinity to the GABAA receptors of insects, than to those of mammals, and to its action on GluCl channels which do not exist in mammals.As of 2017 there did not appear to be significant resistance, at least among fleas, to this insecticide.
Cockroaches are insects of the order Blattodea, which also includes termites. About 30 cockroach species out of 4,600 are associated with human habitats. About four species are well known as pests.
Deltamethrin is a pyrethroid ester insecticide.
Transfluthrin is a fast-acting pyrethroid insecticide with low persistency. It has the molecular formula C15H12Cl2F4O2.
Baygon is a pesticide brand produced by S. C. Johnson & Son. It is an insecticide used for extermination and control of household pests such as crickets, roaches, ants, carpenter ants, spiders, silverfish and mosquitoes. In 1975, Baygon introduced Australia’s first surface spray for killing cockroaches and other crawling insects.
Hydramethylnon is an organic chemical compound. It is also known as AC 217,300. It is in a chemical class called trifluoromethyl aminohydrazone, which is a metabolic inhibitor. It is classified as a pesticide designed to control insects that are harmful to humans. It works by inhibiting complex III in the mitochondrial inner membrane and leads to a halting of oxidative phosphorylation. It is used primarily as an insecticide in the form of baits for cockroaches and ants. Some brands of insecticides that include hydramethylnon are Amdro, Combat, Blatex, Cyaforce, Cyclon, Faslane, Grant's, Impact, Matox, Maxforce, Pyramdron, Siege, Scuttle and Wipeout. Hydramethylnon is a slow-acting poison with delayed toxicity that needs to be eaten to be effective.
Bendiocarb is an acutely toxic carbamate insecticide used in public health and agriculture and is effective against a wide range of nuisance and disease vector insects. Many bendiocarb products are or were sold under the tradenames "Ficam" and "Turcam."
Indoxacarb is an oxadiazine pesticide developed by DuPont that acts against lepidopteran larvae. It is marketed under the names Indoxacarb Technical Insecticide, Steward Insecticide and Avaunt Insecticide. It is also used as the active ingredient in Syngenta line of commercial pesticides: Advion and Arilon.
Aspidophytine is an indole alkaloid that has attracted a lot of attention from synthetic chemists. An extract of the cockroach plant, aspidophytine is an insecticidal substance particularly effective against cockroaches. It is one of the two components of the dimer haplophytine.
Imiprothrin is a synthetic pyrethroid insecticide. It is an ingredient in some commercial and consumer insecticide products for indoor use. It has low acute toxicity to humans through the inhalation route, but to insects it acts as a neurotoxin causing paralysis. It is effective against cockroaches, waterbugs, ants, silverfish, crickets and spiders, among others.
Hydroprene is an insect growth regulator used as an insecticide. It is used against cockroaches, beetles, and moths. Products using hydroprene include Gencor, Gentrol, and Raid Max Sterilizer Discs. Hydropene is a synthetic juvenile hormone mimic, disrupting insect larval development like molting.
Haplophyton is a genus of plants in the family Apocynaceae, first described in 1844. It is native to the southwestern United States, Mexico, Cuba, and Guatemala. It is a suffrutescent herb with alternative leaves and showy colorful flowers.
