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20 March 2017 Development of Diagnostic Insecticide Concentrations and Assessment of Insecticide Susceptibility in German Cockroach (Dictyoptera: Blattellidae) Field Strains Collected From Public Housing
Mahsa Fardisi, Ameya D. Gondhalekar, Michael E. Scharf
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Abstract

Insecticide resistance in German cockroaches (Blattella germanica (L.)) has been a barrier to effective control since its first documentation in the 1950s. A necessary first step toward managing resistance is to understand insecticide susceptibility profiles in field-collected strains so that active ingredients (AIs) with lowest resistance levels can be identified. As a first step in this study, diagnostic concentrations (DCs) were determined for 14 insecticide AIs based on lethal concentrations that killed 99% or 90% of the individuals from a susceptible lab strain (JWax-S). Next, cockroaches were collected from two low-income multifamily housing complexes in Danville, IL, and Indianapolis, IN, and used to establish laboratory strains. These strains were screened against the 14 AI-DCs in vial bioassays, and susceptibility profiles were determined by comparing percent mortalities between the field strains relative to the JWax-S strain. Results revealed lowest resistance of field strains to boric acid, abamectin, dinotefuran, clothianidin, thiamethoxam, and chlorfenapyr. For the AIs hydramethylnon and imidacloprid, field strains did not display survivorship different than the lab strain, but >90% mortality was never achieved. Lastly, both field strains displayed resistance to indoxacarb, fipronil, acetamiprid, beta-cyfluthrin, bifenthrin, and lambda-cyhalothrin, but at varying levels. These results satisfy two objectives. First, baseline monitoring DCs were established for 14 insecticides presently registered for use against cockroaches, which represents a useful resource. Second, our findings reveal insecticide AIs with lowest resistance levels for use in forthcoming field studies that will investigate impacts of different insecticide deployment strategies on resistance management and evolution in cockroach field populations.

© The Authors 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial reproduction and distribution of the work, in any medium, provided the original work is not altered or transformed in any way, and that the work properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com
Mahsa Fardisi, Ameya D. Gondhalekar, and Michael E. Scharf "Development of Diagnostic Insecticide Concentrations and Assessment of Insecticide Susceptibility in German Cockroach (Dictyoptera: Blattellidae) Field Strains Collected From Public Housing," Journal of Economic Entomology 110(3), 1210-1217, (20 March 2017). https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/tox076
Received: 2 December 2016; Accepted: 9 February 2017; Published: 20 March 2017
KEYWORDS
fipronil
indoxacarb
insecticide resistance
pyrethroid
resistance management
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