First Report on Chemical Composition and Acaricidal Activity on the Cattle Tick Rhipicephalus microplus of Essential Oil from Monanthotaxis parvifolia (Oliv.) Verdc

The chemical composition of the essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation from leaves of Monanthotaxis parvifolia were analyzed by GC and GC/MS. Thirty compounds representing 99.9 % of oil were identified. This oil is rich in sesquiterpenes with oxygenated sesquiterpenes (87.1%) following by hydrocarbons compounds (10.8%). Caryophyllene oxide (50.5%), 14-hydroxy-9-epi-(E)-caryophyllene (7.6%) and β-eudesmol (7.3%) were the main components. The acaricidal activity of this oil against Rhipicephalus microplus was assessed by modified Larval Packet Test (LPT) and Adult Immersion Test (AIT) with oil concentrations of 5%, 10% and 20% (v/v). Mortality percentages of larvae were 89.51%, 82.18% and 75.01% respectively at 20%, 10% and 5% dilutions. Monanthotaxis parvifolia leave’s essential oil has considerably reduced egg laying and induced a low reproductive index (0.067%) at 20% dilution.