New and simple bioassay methods to examine pesticide toxicity in the first instar larvae of melon thrips, Thrips palmi Karny (Thysanoptera: Thripidae)

Abstract

We designed two bioassay methods, leaf spraying and leaf dipping, to examine pesticide toxicity in the first instar larvae of melon thrips, Thrips palmi Karny. The corrected mortalities of the larvae for four pesticides (chlorfluazuron, flufenoxuron, spirotetramat, andpolyoxin AL) were 26.6–93.7% in the leaf spray method and 26.8–64.9% in the leaf dip method. Our methods could be used to evaluate pesticide toxicity in the larvae of thrips.