PALATABILITY AND EFFICACY OF EMAMECTIN BENZOATE GEL BAITS ON FOUR PEST COCKROACH SPECIES By BARBARA ELLEN BAYER A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2007 1 © 2007 Barbara Ellen Bayer 2 To my family and friends. Thank you for all of your support. 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I thank my chair, Dr. Phil Koehler, and members of my committee, Drs. Richard Patterson, Michael Scharf, and Deanna Branscome, for all their help. I thank everyone in the Urban Entomology Laboratory for their constant support and Syngenta Corporation for its generous support. I thank my parents, Bette and Jim, my family and friends for their encouragement, without whom none of this would be possible. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...............................................................................................................4 LIST OF TABLES...........................................................................................................................8 LIST OF FIGURES .........................................................................................................................9 ABSTRACT...................................................................................................................................10 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................12 2 LITERATURE REVIEW.......................................................................................................14 Pest Status...............................................................................................................................14 Aesthetics ........................................................................................................................15 Health ..............................................................................................................................15 Pest Cockroaches....................................................................................................................16 Domestic Cockroaches ...........................................................................................................17 German Cockroach..........................................................................................................18 Distribution...............................................................................................................18 Habitat and ecology..................................................................................................18 Physical characteristic ..............................................................................................18 Life cycle..................................................................................................................19 Brownbanded Cockroach ................................................................................................20 Distribution...............................................................................................................20 Habitat and ecology..................................................................................................20 Physical characteristic ..............................................................................................20 Life cycle..................................................................................................................21 Peridomestic Cockroaches......................................................................................................21 American Cockroach.......................................................................................................22 Distribution...............................................................................................................22 Habitat and ecology..................................................................................................22 Physical characteristic ..............................................................................................23 Life cycle..................................................................................................................23 Oriental Cockroach..........................................................................................................24 Distribution...............................................................................................................24 Habitat and ecology..................................................................................................24 Physical characteristic ..............................................................................................25 Life cycle..................................................................................................................25 Control Methods .....................................................................................................................26 Synthetic Insecticides ......................................................................................................26 Sodium channel........................................................................................................27 Chloride channels.....................................................................................................28 5 Acetylcholine receptors............................................................................................28 Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors ................................................................................29 Insect growth regulators...........................................................................................29 Mitochondrial toxins ................................................................................................29 Natural Insecticides .........................................................................................................29 Formulations....................................................................................................................30 Wettable powders.....................................................................................................30 Emulsifiable concentrates (EC)................................................................................31 Microencapuslation ..................................................................................................31 Dusts.........................................................................................................................31 Baits..........................................................................................................................32 Resistance ...............................................................................................................................32 Biochemical Resistance...................................................................................................33 Behavioral Resistance .....................................................................................................33 Glucose aversion ......................................................................................................34 Multiple sugar aversion............................................................................................35 Avermectins............................................................................................................................36 Mode of Action................................................................................................................36 Development....................................................................................................................36 Emamectin Benzoate.......................................................................................................37 3 EMAMECTIN BENZOATE ON ORLANDO AND DAYTONA STRAINS OF GERMAN COCKROACH.....................................................................................................39 Introduction.............................................................................................................................39 Materials and Methods ...........................................................................................................41 Insecticides ......................................................................................................................41 Insects..............................................................................................................................41 Assay Setup .....................................................................................................................42 Assay Method..................................................................................................................42 Data Analysis...................................................................................................................42 Results.....................................................................................................................................43 Consumption....................................................................................................................43 Mortality..........................................................................................................................44 Discussion...............................................................................................................................44 4 EMAMECTIN BENZOATE