Chemosterilant Effects of Metepa and Tretamine on Larvae, Pupae, and Adults of Drosophila melanogaster1

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Abstract
Neither metepa nor tretamine when used in the larval food completely prevented larval development and pupal formation in drosophila melanogaster Meigen. When pupae were immersed in a solution of either chemical, the percent of adults that emerged was dependent on concentration and length of the dipping period. Adult females treated orally with 1.0% metepa showed 96.5% sterility and with 1.0% tretamine, 96.8% sterility. Metepa failed to induce complete sterility when orally treated females were paired with untreated males. To obtain complete sterility females required 1.5 times the amount of tretamine applied topically as treated males. Complete sterility could be obtained when metepa was applied topically in equal amounts to both sexes. Males treated with either chemosterilant and then mated with different ages of unfertilized females showed effective sterilization, regardless of what age they were mated or treated. The topical LD50 for metepa was 10.15 µg/male fly, at which concentration the sterility was 99.99%. The LD50 tretamine was 3.9 µg/male fly resulting in a sterility of 99.99%.

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