Abstract
Many insecticides used in agroecosystems target insect pests along with beneficials or natural enemies. Insecticides should not only suppress the insect pest population, but also be safer to their natural enemies. Hence, it is imperative to screen the insecticides before incorporating them into the Insect Pest Management Programme. Such screening of insecticides will be suffessful and effective only when we understand the toxicological effects of insecticides we use, on insect pests as well as on their predators. The present paper reviews the impact of insecticides on beneficials with special reference to four non-target reduviid predators viz., Acanthaspis pedestris (Stal), Rhynocoris fuscipes (Fabricius), R. Kumarii (Ambrose & Livingsone) and R. marginatus (Fabricius) that prey on insect pests and are being exposed to insecticides used by farmers. Almost all the tested insecticides with reference to this review prolonged the postembryonic development; altered the sex ratio; reduced the size and the weight of life stages; and the fecundity and the longevity; caused low prey consumption, haphazard movement; loss of orientation and restlessness; altered their haemogram, accelerated mistosis as well as transformation of haemocytes; reduced carbohydrate and protein and increased lipid and water content; disintegrated alimentary canal, testis and ovary and reduced sperm count and distorted sperms.