Efficacy of three classes of insecticide for managing adult stink bugs (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) in cotton

Stink bugs (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) comprise an economically important pest complex in the southeastern United States. Stink bugs including Euschistus servus (Say), Nezara viridula (L) and Halyomorpha halys (Stål) feed on vegetable crops, tree nuts, and row crops such as corn, cotton and soybean.  While newer insecticide classes and transgenic cotton cultivars are effective for managing many insect pests, stink bug management requires application of broad spectrum insecticides such as organophosphates and pyrethroids.  Unfortunately, these materials disrupt natural enemies and can flair secondary pests such as whiteflies, cotton aphids and spider mites. Objectives of this study were to assess the time to knockdown, incidence of feeding, and potential for recovery of stink bugs exposed to the organophosphate dicrotophos, the pyrethroid bifenthrin and the neonicotinoid clothianidin.  Trials were conducted in the laboratory under time-lapse videography. Neonicotinoid treated E. servus and N. viridula required longer to reach knockdown and continued feeding for a longer duration compared to dicrotophos. When applied to cotton leaves, the pyrethroid provided the fastest time to knockdown of E. servus whereas the combination of the pyrethroid and neonicotinoid provided the fastest time to knockdown of N. viridula.  Finally, clothianidin residues were slower acting and allowed more feeding intervals compared to the remaining treatments.  These data demonstrate that commonly used insecticides have different effects on each stink bug species.