Contact Toxicity and Chemical Composition of Essential Oil of Acantholimon scorpius

Background: Plumbaginaceae plants family is a valuable natural insecticidalcompound. This research focused on contact toxicity and chemical composition ofessential oil obtained from Acantholimon scorpus.Methods: The essential oil from the aerial parts of A. scorpius was extracted byhydrodistillation method and tested for their toxicity against Oryzeaphilus mercator(Coleoptera: Silvanidae) and Tribolium castaneum (Coleoptera: Tenerbrionidae).Chemical compounds of the essential oil was analyzed by the gas chromatography-massspectrometry (GC-MS) and gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC-FID).Results: The essential oil showed toxic effect on tested insects. This oil showed 90.0%mortality of O. mercator and 85.2% mortality of T. castaneum at a dose of 12 μl /l airafter 48h of exposure. The constituents of this oil were identified, representing morethan 82.9% of the total essential oil composition. Hexadecanoic acid, tetrahydrogeranylacetone and oleic acid were the main compounds of the essential oil.Conclusion: According to the result the essential oil of A. scorpius showed a noticeableinsecticidal activity in contact toxicity model.