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

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.