Chemical control of leaf-cutting ants: how do workers disperse toxic bait fragments onto fungus garden?

Catalani, Gabriela Christal; Sousa, Kátia Kaelly Andrade; Camargo, Roberto da Silva; Caldato, Nádia; Matos, Carlos Alberto Oliveira de; Forti, Luíz Carlos

doi:10.1016/j.rbe.2019.09.004

Cited by 7 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Trophallaxis is not the most common insecticide‐dispersing behavior within an LCA colony. Intoxication in these ants occurs through direct contact with toxic baits during processing and incorporation into the fungus garden, by self‐grooming and allogrooming, and by contact between contaminated and non‐contaminated workers, thus contaminating other colony members 24,7,25–27 . Oral trophallaxis in LCAs is very inconsistent and is an unreliable method of exchanging substances between nestmates.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contamination routes and mortality of the leaf‐cutting ant Atta sexdens (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) by the insecticides fipronil and sulfluramid through social interactions

Filho

Camargo

Zanúncio³

et al. 2021

Pest Management Science

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BACKGROUND Leaf‐cutting ants (LCAs) of the genera Atta and Acromyrmex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) are important pests of forest plantations, agriculture and livestock. Toxic baits containing the active ingredients fipronil or sulfluramid are the main method used to control LCAs. Insecticide dispersion among members of an LCA colony during control with toxic bait is not well understood. The objective of the study was to determine whether self‐grooming, allogrooming or touching behavior among Atta sexdens (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) workers disperses the insecticides fipronil and sulfluramid among members of the colony. The insecticides were topically applied on groups of A. sexdens workers and social interactions between ants with and without insecticide, and group mortality were evaluated. RESULTS Behavioral analysis showed an increase in interaction among LCA workers as the numbers of individuals increased, with touches between workers being the most frequent behavior. The frequency of observed behaviors was higher in groups treated with sulfluramid compared with fipronil. The mortality of groups treated with fipronil was almost twice as high compared with ants treated with sulfluramid. The insecticides are probably dispersed by excessive touching among workers and subsequent self‐grooming and allogrooming. CONCLUSION These behaviors were responsible for the rapid dispersion of insecticides among members of the colony. Corroboration of the hypothesis that social interactions contaminate nestmates is a model for future studies on contamination of ant workers with active insecticide ingredients. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contamination routes and mortality of the leaf‐cutting ant Atta sexdens (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) by the insecticides fipronil and sulfluramid through social interactions

Filho

Camargo

Zanúncio³

et al. 2021

Pest Management Science

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“…The bait would not be so processed and distributed, and the insecticide would not spread throughout the nest if many ants involved in foraging die before taking it into the nest, resulting in control failure. The contamination of a great number of workers and, thus, the nest control, heavily depends on the distribution of baits fragments throughout the nest (Catalani et al, 2019).…”

Section: Nest Mortalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

An organic bait based on Palicourea marcgravii (Rubiaceae) and Tephrosia candida (Fabaceae) does not control nests of Atta laevigata (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in eucalyptus plantations

Lemes

Matos

Araújo

et al. 2021

Agri and Forest Entomology

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Leaf-cutting ants of the genus Atta (Myrmicinae: Attini) are the main forest pests in Brazil, due to their economic damage, social complexity and geographical distribution. Chemical control with baits is the most viable and successful method to control these insects; and products with low environmental impact have been researched. 2 The objective of this study was to evaluate the mortality of Atta laevigata (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) nests treated with Bioisca® bait, in different dosages, in eucalyptus plantations compared with those treated with sulfluramid and fipronil baits. 3 Seven treatments were used: Bioisca® (Palicourea marcgravii (Rubiaceae) + Tephrosia candida (Fabaceae)), with 5, 10, 15 and 20 g; Blitz® (fipronil), Atta Mex-S® (sulfluramid) baits with 6 g/m 2 of ant nest loose soil and the control, without ant baits. 4 It took 7 days for the first colony to have its activity stopped using the Blitz® treatment.It happened only at 30 days when treated with Bioisca® and Atta-Mex-S® . 5 The mortality of nests treated with Bioisca® was very low with only one controlled out of 20 that received this bait. Bioisca® does not control the nests of A. laevigata in eucalyptus plantations.

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Section: Capítulo 22unclassified

“…Os princípios ativos mais utilizados em iscas de controle de formigas-cortadeiras são as sulfluramidas e o fipronil (Guillade e Folgarait, 2014;Zanuncio et al, 2016;Catalani et al, 2019). As sulfluramidas depois de ingeridas pelas formigas são metabolizadas e liberam perfluorooctano sulfonamida, que é letal para os insetos por interromper a produção de ATP durante o processo de fosforilação oxidativa (Catalani et al, 2019). A sulfluramida das iscas que não são transportadas pelas formigas degrada no ambiente e libera sulfonato de perfluorooctano (PFOS) e fluoreto de perfluroctano sulfonilo (PFOSF) que são substâncias poluentes, bioacumuláveis e que podem persistir no meio ambiente por centenas de anos (Gilljam et al, 2016).…”

Section: Capítulo 22unclassified

Agroecologia em Foco – Volume 4

2020

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Chemical control of leaf-cutting ants: how do workers disperse toxic bait fragments onto fungus garden?

Cited by 7 publications

References 22 publications

Contamination routes and mortality of the leaf‐cutting ant Atta sexdens (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) by the insecticides fipronil and sulfluramid through social interactions

Contamination routes and mortality of the leaf‐cutting ant Atta sexdens (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) by the insecticides fipronil and sulfluramid through social interactions

An organic bait based on Palicourea marcgravii (Rubiaceae) and Tephrosia candida (Fabaceae) does not control nests of Atta laevigata (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in eucalyptus plantations

Agroecologia em Foco – Volume 4

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