Insecticide susceptibility of the green plant bug, Apolygus lucorum Meyer-Dür (Homoptera: Miridae) and two predatory arthropods

Abstract

The green plant bug (Apolygus lucorum Meyer-Dür) is a key pest of Bt cotton in China. Along with biological control, chemical control is one of the most important strategies in A. lucorum Integrated Pest Management (IPM). The goal of this study was to evaluate the toxicity of eight conventional insecticides to A. lucorum and to assess the susceptibility of two generalist predators Chrysopa sinica (Jieder) and Propylaea japonica (Thunbery) to insecticides that are commonly used in A. lucorum management. Via glass-vial and leaf-dip bioassay, toxicity tests with selected insecticides at two different life-stages of A. lucorum indicated significant differences between the LD50 or LC50 values for these compounds within different insecticidal classes. Phenylpyrazole fipronil had the highest toxicity to 4th-instar nymphs and adults of A. lucorum, whereas neonicotinoid imidacloprid had the lowest toxicity among the insecticides. Females were more tolerant to insecticides than were males, as shown by the higher LD50 values for females. Furthermore, laboratory tests showed that endosulfan had the highest selectivity to C. sinica and P. japonica: the selective toxicity ratios (STRs) were superior to other tested insecticides, particularly imidacloprid, and were 5.396 and 4.749-fold higher than baseline STRs, respectively. From this study, we conclude that fipronil can potentially be used to efficiently control A. lucorum. An alternative control agent worth consideration is endosulfan, owing to its relative safety to non-targeted natural enemies.

A rapid evidence assessment of the potential risk to the environment presented by active ingredients in the UK’s most commonly sold companion animal parasiticides

“…3 ). A lack of ecotoxicity data led to imidacloprid originally being considered safe to aquatic organisms (Tisler et al 2009 ), and it is now recognised that the standard aquatic toxicity test species, the water flea Daphnia magna , displays an unusually high and unrepresentative level of tolerance towards imidacloprid (Li et al 2021 ).…”

“…Commercial insecticides, such as companion animal parasiticides, consist of active ingredients formulated with a commercially sensitive and typically undisclosed mixture of inert ingredients, designed for end-use as effective pest control products. As these inert ingredients have been recognised to alter the toxicology of the AIs (Beggel et al 2010 ; Kitulagodage et al 2008 ; Tisler et al 2009 ), ecotoxicological tests using actual companion animal parasiticide formulations would be the most environmentally relevant, but such studies are rare. As there are so few tests using companion animal parasiticides, this review additionally includes tests of technical grade (TG) active ingredients (defined here as > 95% pure).…”

The Effect of Temperature on the Development of Trilocha varians (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae) and Control of the Ficus Plant Pest

“…Fipronil has lower LT 50 and LT 50 towards larvae of T. varians because it is very effective against adult and larval stage of insect (Colliot et al . 1992; Zhang et al . 2015).…”

Imidacloprid seed treatments affect individual ant behavior and community structure but not egg predation, pest abundance or soybean yield

“…Although sprayed neonicotinoids can be an immediate hazard to non‐target arthropods, persistence of residues has the potential to impact non‐targets indirectly for several months or longer . Neonicotinoids from seed treatments have the potential to permeate the surrounding environment (i.e.…”

“…13 Although sprayed neonicotinoids can be an immediate hazard to non-target arthropods, 14 persistence of residues has the potential to impact non-targets indirectly for several months or longer. 15,16 Neonicotinoids from seed treatments have the potential to permeate the surrounding environment (i.e. soils, water bodies, non-target plants) of a crop field; 17,18 they have been documented in dust, 19 plant guttation 20 and surface waters.…”