CONTACT TOXICITY OF SOME PYRETHROID INSECTICIDES, ALONE AND IN COMBINATION WITH PIPERONYL BUTOXIDE, TO INSECTICIDE-SUSCEPTIBLE AND PYRETHROID-RESISTANT STRAINS OF THE COLORADO POTATO BEETLE (COLEOPTERA: CHRYSOMELIDAE)

Abstract Laboratory tests showed that a Colorado potato beetle (CPB), Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), strain collected from potatoes on a farm near Sherbrooke, Quebec, and known in 1979 to be resistant to most recommended organochlorine, organophosphorus, and carbamate insecticides, also had developed 23- to 38-fold levels of resistance to the pyrethroid insecticides permethrin, fenvalerate, and cypermethrin by 1982. Piperonyl butoxide (PB) had only a minor effect on fenvalerate and deltamethrin toxicity to insecticide-susceptible CPB and on deltamethrin toxicity to pyrethroid-resistant CPB. However, PB effectively synergized fenvalerate in pyrethroid-resistant CPB, e.g. a 1:8 fenvalerate:PB mixture was 12-fold more toxic than fenvalerate alone.