Tarnished Plant Bug (Heteroptera: Miridae) Behavioral Responses to Chemical Insecticides

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The tarnished plant bug, Lygus lineolaris (L.), is a pernicious pest of cotton across the Mid-South and Southeastern US Cotton Belt. In order to manage this pest, numerous insecticide applications are required annually. This has led to widespread resistance and increased cost of control. We tested the behavioral response of tarnished plant bug against various classes of chemistry used for control. The insects avoided certain chemicals and were slightly attracted to others. These findings help us understand the role of tarnished plant bug behavior on field control failures, insecticide resistance, and insecticide resistance management. ABSTRACT: The tarnished plant bug (Lygus lineolaris Palisot de Beauvois) is the dominant insect pest of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) in the Mid-South Cotton Belt. This is partly due to the fact that this pest has developed resistance to most insecticides used for control. Laboratory experiments were conducted during 2014 and 2015 to study the behavioral response of tarnished plant bug nymphs to several classes of insecticides. Twenty third-instar nymphs were placed in individual dishes divided into four quadrants with five green bean pieces in each quadrant (10 treated and 10 untreated green beans in each dish). Dishes were checked at 1, 4, 8, and 24 h. Tarnished plant bug nymphs appeared to avoid green beans treated with IGR, pyrethroid, organophosphate, or carbamate insecticides, while there appeared to be an attraction to green bean pieces treated with sulfoxamine and pyridine carboxamide insecticides. No relationship was observed with neonicotinoid insecticides within 24 h.