Excretion of unchanged organophosphorus compounds after their consumption by larvae of the Egyptian cotton leafworm,Spodoptera littoralis Boisd

The ingestion and excretion of sublethal doses of phosfolan, monocrotophos, parathion, and leptophos were studied in larvae of the Egyptian cotton leafworm, Spodoptera littoralis Boisd. Styropor (foamed polystyrene) lamellae treated with insecticide-sucrose mixtures were fed to the larvae and recovery of the undecomposed insecticides from the feces could be estimated by gas-liquid chromatography, without any cleanup of the sample. The insecticidal residues on Styropor were found to be stable for 5 days.As regards the percentage of insecticide recovered from the feces, two groups could be distinguished: (a) leptophos, practically complete; parathion, 59–67%; b) phosfolan, 10–23%; monocrotophos, 4–7%. A tentative hypothesis was advanced that both oral toxicity of the four compounds for S. littoralis larvae and their subsequent recovery in the feces were related to water solubility.