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Group effects on insecticide toxicity in workers of the Formosan subterranean termite, Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki
Author(s) -
Valles Steven M,
Woodson W David
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
pest management science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.296
H-Index - 125
eISSN - 1526-4998
pISSN - 1526-498X
DOI - 10.1002/ps.528
Subject(s) - coptotermes , chlordane , rhinotermitidae , toxicology , chlorpyrifos , toxicity , biology , pesticide , agronomy , medicine , botany
Coptotermes formosanus workers were treated topically with insecticide and subsequently held individually or in groups to examine possible effects on insecticide toxicity. Chlorpyrifos, cypermethrin and chlordane toxicities were 1.4‐, 1.5‐, and 1.3‐fold greater, respectively, among workers held in groups compared with those held individually after insecticide treatment. Experiments were conducted to examine how enhanced toxicity occurred among termites held in groups after topical insecticide treatment. When workers were treated topically with chlordane and immediately placed with untreated workers, significantly greater numbers of untreated workers were killed compared with controls at all ratios examined (insecticide‐treated:untreated). These data indicated that workers treated topically with insecticide were capable of somehow transferring a lethal dose of insecticide to untreated workers confined in the vial. Chlordane was recovered from untreated workers which had been confined with chlordane‐treated workers; significantly higher quantities of chlordane were recovered from dead workers exposed to chlordane‐treated workers compared with surviving workers exposed to chlordane‐treated workers. Possible mechanisms of insecticide transfer from insecticide‐treated to untreated termites are discussed. Published in 2002 for SCI by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.