An Indoor Test of Transferring Insecticidal Activity of Pesticide Fipronil to Red Fire Ants

The attractive effect,poison speed and transferring insecticidal activity of bio-insecticide Fipronil to the worker ants of the red imported fire ant(Solenopsis invicta Buren) in a laboratory reared colony were measured with the co-cup method.The results showed that the attractive effect and poison speed of the oral toxicity of Fipronil was significantly higher than that of Zheng-shu(CK).The initial time of ants foraging in the test was 2.0 min,which was remarkably lower than 2.33 min in the use of Zheng-shu.As to the transferring insecticide activity,the co-cup method was used,and the results showed that Fipronil in bait was able to be transferred by the feeding worker ants to the worker and larval ants.The mortality caused by transferring insecticide was increased with the increase in active time in bait.The mortality of transferring insecticide was 100% after 3 d treatment,and the mortality of the queens and larvae was up to 100%,too.It could be concluded that Fipronil in bait had a good oral toxicity,and exhibited a remarkable transferring insecticidal activity,and therefore Fipronil was one of suitable insecticides for bait preparation.