RESUMO
Euschistus heros is an important pest in many crops in Brazil, and different control strategies, mainly involving chemicals, have been evaluated; however, the side effects of these chemicals on the balance of inorganic element levels in the hemolymph are unknown. Thus, the aim of this work was to determine the concentration of inorganic elements (focusing on macro-elements) in the hemolymph of female and male E. heros adults, after applying pyriproxyfen at a sublethal concentration (LC30â¯=â¯6.68â¯mLâ¯L-1 diluted in distilled water) to 4th instar nymphs, which were kept in controlled conditions. The hemolymph pool was removed 48â¯h after adult emergence, centrifuged and placed on an acrylic disk added with Gallium as internal standard for the analysis of total reflection X-ray fluorescence. Most of the elements in the control treatment did not differ between females and males. However, following insecticide application to females and males, respectively, there was a significant increase in sulfur (19 and 51%), chlorine (33 and 137%) and calcium (47 and 82%) in the hemolymph. The significantly higher increase in macro-elements in males' hemolymph indicates that the action of pyriproxyfen may be sex-specific. Phosphorus and potassium concentrations also differed between females and males in the control and treated groups. The observed variation in inorganic elements in the insect's hemolymph may be related to the unknown effects of pyriproxyfen, mainly on immune and reproductive performance.