neonicotinoid

plural neonicotinoids

1. chemistryAny of a certain class of insecticides that act on the central nervous system in a similar way to nicotine.

   He thinks new classes of insecticides introduced in the last 20 years, including neonicotinoids and fipronil, have been particularly damaging as they are used routinely and persist in the environment: “They sterilise the soil, killing all the grubs.”

   2019 February 10, Damian Carrington, “Plummeting insect numbers 'threaten collapse of nature'”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 23 Mar 2022

   1 more example

   Neonicotinoids may be contributing towards the disappearance of butterflies from the countryside, according to the first scientific study to examine the effect of the controversial agricultural pesticides on British butterflies. […] [S]cientists at the universities of Stirling and Sussex, in partnership with Butterfly Conservation and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, found that neonicotinoid use better explained steep population declines than other factors.

   2015 November 24, Patrick Barkham, “Pesticide may be reason butterfly numbers are falling in UK, says study”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 05 Mar 2016

   Synonyms: neonic