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Helicoverpa armigera Hubner is an important polyphagous agricultural insect pest, highly mobile, with a worldwide distribution. In India, it causes substantial losses to cotton, legumes, cereal and vegetable crops. Malaria is caused by parasites from the genus Plasmodium that are transmitted by female anopheline mosquitoes. Anopheles stephensi Liston is the leading vector of malaria in India, parts of Asia and the Middle East. In this research, we investigated the efficacy of green-synthesized zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) fabricated using the brown macroalga Sargassum wightii Greville ex J.Agardh. The formation of ZnO NPs was confirmed by surface Plasmon resonance band illustrated in UV–vis spectrophotometry. ZnO NP were characterized by XRD, SEM, EDX and FTIR analyses. Low doses of S. wightii extract and ZnO NP showed larvicidal and pupicidal toxicity on A. stephensi and H. armigera. LC₅₀ …