Toxicity of ozone fumigation on Galleria mellonella larvae and latent effects on pupation and adult emergence

The greater wax moth Galleria mellonella L. is a serious pest of honey bee combs in hives. Ozone fumigation was applied on fourth instar larvae at three concentrations, 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 g/m³ for 30, 60, 90 and 120 min. Our findings showed that the two concentrations of 0.5 and 1.0 g/m3 were less effective than that of 2.0 g/m3 on larval mortality with 40 and 60%, respectively, at 120 min of exposure time after 7 days. Full larval mortality (100%) was obtained by 2.0 g/m³ of ozone at 90 min exposure time in 3 and 7 days post treatment. Our findings demonstrated that ozone had latent effects on pupation as well as adult emergence from treated larvae of G. mellonella. Exposure to 0.5 g/m³ for 120 min, 1.0 g/m³ for 120 min and 2.0 g/m3 for 60 min resulted in the lowest pupation percentage (60, 40 and 0%, respectively) and strong inhibition of adult emergence (16.7, 0 and 0% adult emergence, respectively. Our research indicates that ozone fumigation is a useful strategy for the control of the greater wax moth.