The wild cochineal, Dactylopius opuntiae (Hemiptera: Dactylopiidae), has become a serious pest of prickly pear Opuntia ficus-indica L. in the Mediterranean region. The present study investigated the insecticidal activity of four essential oils, namely Cuminum cyminum, Cinnamomum camphora, Artemisia herba-alba, and Salvia rosmarinus against D. opuntiae nymphs and adult females in laboratory and greenhouse bioassays. Laboratory tests showed that at a concentration of 2.5%, C. cyminum oil was the most effective (inducing 100% nymph mortality at 3 h after treatment), followed by C. camphora, A. herba-alba and S. rosmarinus oils which recorded comparable mortality rates ranging from 89.40 to 100%, while S. rosmarinus and C. cyminum oils induced the highest mortality rates on adult females (88% and 86%, respectively) 8 days after treatments. Under greenhouse conditions, the combined application of C. cyminum oil (2.5%) and black soap (10 g/L) showed the highest nymphs’ mortality (100%) at 3 days after application. Adult female mortality in the greenhouse was lower than in the laboratory bioassay for all tested oils, with S. rosmarinus inducing 47% mortality at 2.5% at 14 days after the second spray. Eucalyptol was the main constituent of S. rosmarinus (41.20%) and C. camphora (56.47%) oils, and thujon-camphor was the major chemotype of A. herba-alba (30.55%/28.16%), while cuminaldehyde was the main compound of C. cyminum oil seeds (32.53%). These findings showed that the compounds of the two essential oils S. rosmarinus and C. camphora potential sources of insecticidal compounds and warrant further investigation.

野生胭脂虫Dactylopius opuntiae （半翅目：Dactylopiidae）已成为地中海地区仙人掌果Opuntia ficus-indica L.的严重害虫。本研究在实验室和温室生物测定中调查了四种精油（即孜然、樟脑、白蒿和迷迭香鼠尾草）对仙人掌若虫和成年雌性的杀虫活性。实验室测试表明，在浓度为 2.5% 时，C. cyminum油最有效（在处理后 3 小时诱导 100% 的若虫死亡率），其次是C. camphora，A. herba-alba和S. rosmarinus油记录了 89.40 至 100% 的可比死亡率，而S. rosmarinus和C. cyminum油对成年女性的死亡率最高（分别为 88% 和 86%）8 天治疗后。在温室条件下， C. cyminum油 (2.5%) 和黑皂 (10 g/L) 的组合施用在施用后 3 天表现出最高的若虫死亡率 (100%)。温室中的成年女性死亡率低于所有测试油的实验室生物测定，迷迭香在第二次喷洒后 14 天导致 47% 的死亡率为 2.5%。桉树油是迷迭香的主要成分(41.20%) 和C. camphora (56.47%) 油，thujon-camphor 是A. herba-alba (30.55%/28.16%) 的主要化学类型，而异丙苯醛是C. cyminum油籽 (32.53 %)。这些发现表明迷迭香和樟脑两种精油的化合物是杀虫化合物的潜在来源，值得进一步研究。