“Haplopappus platylepis(Asteraceae) resin: an adhesive trap for pest control of crawling arthropods, with antimicrobial potential”

The use of plant secondary metabolites has been incorporated as key part of integrated pest management and as an alternative to the use of pesticides. This may even be more relevant regarding domiciliary pest insects, capable of vectoring pathogens to humans. In these environments control its more difficult due to its possible effect on non-target organisms and human health. Here we evaluated the use of the resinous exudate of Chile’s endemic bush Haplopappus platylepis (Asteraceae) as a sticky trap for crawling pest insects. We used Blatta orientalis Linneus (oriental cockroach), a cosmopolitan synanthropic pest, as test organism. We compared effectiveness on cockroach-trapping of H. platylepis ’ resin versus a commercially available sticky trap, and analyzed these two sticky substances using UHPLC-DAD-MS and GC-MS. We found that H. platylepis resin was as effective as the commercial adhesive on trapping B. orientalis . Plant resinous exudate was composed by a mixture of flavonoids, labdane diterpenoids and unsatured fatty acids oxylipins, which are known for their antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. In contrast, the commercial sticky trap was rich in 1-bromohexadecane and 2-clorociclohexanol, which have been described as allergens and as potentially toxic to humans. Considering these findings, we suggest the use of the resinous extract of H. platylepis as an effective adhesive trapping method against pest cockroaches and possibly other crawling synanthropic arthropods cohabiting with humans. We highlight the importance of novel, non-toxic and eco-friendly products as strategies to be applied in the management of insect pests.