A new fire ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) bait base carrier for moist conditions.
BACKGROUND
A new water-resistant fire ant bait (T-bait; cypermethrin 0.128%) consisting of dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) as a carrier was developed and evaluated against a standard commercial bait (Advion; indoxacarb 0.045%) under both laboratory and field conditions.


RESULTS
When applying the normal T-bait or Advion in the laboratory, 100% of Solenopsis invicta Buren worker ants were killed within 4 days. However, when the T-bait and Advion were wetted, 70.6 and 39.7% of the ants were killed respectively. Under field conditions, dry T-bait and dry Advion had almost the same efficacy against ant colonies. However, when T-bait and Advion came in contact with water, the former's ability to kill S. invicta colonies in the field was only marginally reduced, while Advion lost virtually all of its activity. In addition, DDGS was also shown to be compatible with a number of other insecticides, such as d-allethrin, permethrin and pyrethrin.


CONCLUSIONS
Based on its properties of remaining attractive to the fire ants when wetted, combined with its ant-killing abilities both in the laboratory and in the field, T-bait is an efficient fire ant bait, especially under moist conditions.
Kafle
Lekhnath
L
Department of Entomology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Wu
Wen-Jer
WJ
Shih
Cheng-Jen
CJ
D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D007300:Insect Control / Q000379:methods*; D007306:Insecticides / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D011722:Pyrethrins / Q000494:pharmacology*
D007306:Insecticides; D011722:Pyrethrins; C017160:cypermethrin