Chlorine Dioxide - Wax Worm Lethality

From 3-27-15.

It has been 48 hours after the late instar wax worms were exposed to the chlorine dioxide gas. The wax worms were allowed to recover from the gas and they were checked for survival today by gentle prodding with a forceps.

Survival Raw Data (n=10):

	Replicate A	Replicate B	Replicate C
0 mg	10	10	10
100 mg	10	10	9
200 mg	7	6	6

Discussion:

The results are similar to the last time I performed this experiment. The most death was seen at the 200 mg concentration, otherwise there was negligible death seen in the 100 mg concentration. It appears the same trend .No wax worms died in the negative control. These wax worms were not exposed to the chlorine dioxide gas. Apparently, soft bodied insects react similarly to chlorine dioxide as certain fruits and vegetables do (ex tomatoes). The bodies of the wax worms serve as a sink for the chlorine dioxide gas as it is high in moisture and provides little physical resistance to absorption.  I am unsure if I will continue to pursue this avenue of experiments.  It would be interesting to see how the gas effects insects with exoskeletons like the red flour beetles or dubia cockroaches we have in the lab...

//EWW