Dosage rate, temperature, and food source provisioning affect susceptibility of Tribolium castaneum and Tribolium confusum to chlorfenapyr

Abstract

A series of experiments were conducted to evaluate residual efficacy of the insecticidal pyrrolle chlorfenapyr (Phantom^®) on treated concrete for control of Tribolium castaneum (Herbst), assess development of progeny from exposed parental adults, and to determine if starvation before exposure with or without a flour food source increased susceptibility of adult T. castaneum and adult Tribolium confusum Jacqueline du Val to chlorfenapyr. No adults survived exposure on concrete treated with chlorfenapyr at the maximum label rate of 1.1 g active ingredient (AI)/m², and no progeny were produced in bioassays conducted at 0–8 weeks posttreatment. In the second test, application rates were reduced, and bioassays were conducted at 27 and 32 °C. Adult survival and progeny production decreased as the application rate increased from 28 to 225 mg AI/m², and survival and progeny production were generally lower at 32 °C than at 27 °C, but at higher rates survival was <1 %, and no progeny were produced. In the final test, adult T. castaneum and adult T. confusum were starved for 1–7 days and then exposed either with or without flour on concrete treated with 3.9 and 27.5 mg AI chlorfenapyr/m². Mortality generally increased with starvation time, the presence of a food source led to decreased mortality at both application rates, and T. confusum was the more susceptible of the two species. Results show that chlorfenapyr could effectively control both species, but precise dosage levels need to be determined. Also, the presence of a food source greatly compromises adult control.