Sterility Induced by Tepa in the Boll Weevil: Effective Dose and Permanency, Gonadal Changes, and Biological Turnover of Labeled Compound12

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Abstract
The male boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis Boheman, was sterilized with tepa, either by feeding 1500 ppm in the diet for 2 days or by an injection of 3.5 μg. Lower levels produced transitory sterilization. At the effective levels, mortality was significant. A recovery of fertility occurred about 5 days after treatment at the 1.5-μg level. This recovery was less marked with an artificial diet than with cotton buds. In a study of single pairs 12 of 27 males, surviving treatment at the 1.0-μg level, regained fertility within 36 days. Decreases in the size of the testes and changes in morphology and cytology occurred. The radioactivity of insects treated with C14-labeled tepa was decreased by half in 6—48 hours, depending on the diet, but 10—20% was retained for at least 10 days. No differences related to posttreatment diet were observed. Nitric acid was employed for digestion of insect tissue prior to C14 gas-flow counting. Conditions are described for reproducible and near-quantitative counting of the isotope.

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