Relative Repellency and Lethality of the Neonicotinoids Thiamethoxam and Acetamiprid and an Acetamiprid/Bifenthrin Combination to Reticulitermes flavipes Termites

• Published in: Journal of economic entomology Vol. 101; no. 6; pp. 1881 - 1887
• Main Authors: Smith, Joseph A, Pereira, Roberto M, Koehler, Philip G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01.12.2008
• Subjects: acetamiprid; Animals; application rate; bifenthrin; Insect Repellents; Insecticides; Isoptera; mortality; Neonicotinoids; Nitro Compounds; Oxazines; pesticide mixtures; Pyrethrins; Pyridines; Reticulitermes flavipes; Soil; soil depth; soil penetration inhibition; soil treatment; subterranean termites; termite control; termiticides; Thiamethoxam; Thiazoles; toxicity
• ISSN: 0022-0493; 1938-291X
• DOI: 10.1603/0022-0493-101.6.1881

Field-collected Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar) termites were placed in bioassay tubes containing soil treated with one of three termiticides: thiamethoxam, acetamiprid, or a combination of acetamiprid + bifenthrin. In the bioassay tubes, treated soil was placed in a layer centered within untreated sand between two 1.5-cm agar plugs. All termiticides were tested at concentrations of 0.1, 1, 10, and 100 ppm with narrow (1 mm), medium (5 mm), and broad (50 mm) thicknesses of treated soil. Soil penetration and termite mortality were measured after 7 d, and repellency was assessed. Thiamethoxam treatments allowed the greatest soil penetration, whereas acetamiprid + bifenthrin treatments were the most inhibitory to soil penetration. Thiamethoxam treatments also caused consistently greater termite mortality than acetamiprid treatments. These data indicated that acetamiprid prevented soil penetration by termites more than thiamethoxam, although both were less repellent compared with bifenthrin alone, which causes little termite mortality at the tested doses. When there was direct contact of treated soil with the agar plugs in broad treatments, the combination of acetamiprid + bifenthrin was more toxic to R. flavipes termites than either acetamiprid or thiamethoxam alone. The combination acetamiprid + bifenthrin termiticide may be effective in keeping termites away from the treated soil, because of the combined effects of acetamiprid and bifenthrin.