Acaricidal Efficacy of Plants from Ecuador, Ambrosia peruviana (Asteraceae) and Lepechinia mutica (Lamiaceae) against Larvae and Engorged Adult Females of the Common Cattle Tick, Rhipicephalus microplus

Control measures against common cattle tick Rhipicephalus microplus are of the upmost importance because of considerable, deleterious impact on a farm’s economy. Due to resistance phenomena to synthetic acaricides being a constraint in affected farms, the search for plant derivatives as acaricides has increased dramatically in recent years. In this work, essential oils obtained from two Ecuadorian plants, Ambrosia peruviana and Lepechinia mutica (EO(Ap), EO(Lm)), traditionally used as insecticides in indigenous communities, were studied on larvae and engorged females at the parasitic stages of R. microplus. Larvae and females were treated with five (0.0625, 0.125, 0.25, 0.50 and 1%) and six concentrations (0.125, 0.25, 0.50, 1, 2 and 4%), respectively, of each EOs(Ap/Lm). A 98–99% larval mortality was achieved with 0.5% of both EOs(Ap/Lm). EO(Ap) inhibited oviposition and egg hatching up to 82% and 80%, respectively, and had an overall efficacy of 93.12%. Efficacy of EO(Lm) was 72.84%, due to the low influence of EO(Lm) on reproductive parameters. By steam distillation and GC-MS analysis, γ-Curcumene was identified as the main constituent (52.02%) in the EO(Ap) and Shyobunol (10.80%) in EO(Lm). The results suggest that major components of both essential oils should be further studied as promissory acaricides against R. microplus.