Long-Tailed Silverfish (Ctenolepisma longicaudata) Control; Bait Choice Based on Primary and Secondary Poisoning.

Anders Aak,Morten Hage,Bjørn Arne Rukke

doi:10.3390/insects11030170

Abstract

The long-tailed silverfish (Ctenolepisma longicaudata) has recently made its appearance and demonstrated a tremendous proliferation in Norway, where it is currently considered a major indoor nuisance pest in modern buildings. To reduce the risk of human pesticide exposure, several baits with indoxacarb, clothianidin, fipronil or imidacloprid as the active ingredient were investigated to provide knowledge regarding their potential for integrated pest management solutions. Primary and secondary poisoning, as well as the durability of baits, were experimentally evaluated in bioassays. Baits with indoxacarb, clothianidin and fipronil killed more than 90% of the experimental insects (primary poisoning) when presented in competition with food. Only indoxacarb produced high mortality when dead conspecifics were consumed (secondary poisoning) and resulted in more than 75% mortality. The efficacy of baits with indoxacarb against C. longicaudata was also found to be very long. Laboratory degraded baits were consumed and induced high levels of mortality for more than a month, and field degraded baits for more than 6 months. Adults and juveniles were equally affected in the experiments. Primary and secondary toxicity in combination with long durability and effects on both life stages tested suggest that the bait has high-level potential as a safe control strategy against the long-tailed silverfish if indoxacarb is used as the active ingredient.

Highlights

The long-tailed silverfish (Ctenolepisma longicaudata, Zygentoma: Lepismatidae) has recently made its appearance and proliferated in several European countries [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. It is considered a major indoor nuisance pest in Norway, where it typically appears in modern buildings [11]
The long-tailed silverfish is considered more difficult to eradicate than other bristletail species such as the common silverfish (Lepisma saccharina) or the firebrat (Thermobia domestica) due to its ability to cope with drier conditions [17,18,19,20]
Durability of bait in the field: Field-collected four- and six-month old baits with indoxacarb maintained their ability to significantly reduce survival compared to the control (Kaplan-Meier log rank test – only least significant test shown; Control vs. four-month old 0.6% indoxacarb bait: χ2 = 52.86, p < 0.001, Figure 3D)

Summary

Introduction

The long-tailed silverfish (Ctenolepisma longicaudata, Zygentoma: Lepismatidae) has recently made its appearance and proliferated in several European countries [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10] It is considered a major indoor nuisance pest in Norway, where it typically appears in modern buildings [11]. The long-tailed silverfish cause minimal damage to objects in private homes [12,13,14], but they may generate stress and discomfort as they move around on floors, walls, cabinets and furniture throughout an infested locality [11] They may feed on paper, pictures, old books or plant-based cloth [12,13], and for museums or other collection-oriented institutions it is a major concern because of the potential damage to rare and priceless items [15,16]. They utilize a wide variety of foods [17], and an indoor environment may be considered clean, there may still be adequate food sources for population growth

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Conclusion