Biological activity of two juvenoids and two ecdysteroids against three stored product insects.

The insecticidal activity of juvenile hormone agonists methoprene and pyriproxyfen, and the ecdysone agonists RH-5849 and tebufenozide was evaluated against susceptible and actellic-resistant strains of Tribolium castaneum and susceptible strains of Rhyzopertha dominica and Sitophilus oryzae. Concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 20 ppm of the analogues were mixed in the food medium to which the tested insects were exposed. The results showed that all these compounds could affect the development of the tested species to differing extents but had no effect on the mortality of parental adults. The two JH analogues did not prolong the life span of R. dominica and S. oryzae, but very greatly extended that of T. castaneum. The extension led to the production of giant larvae and failure to pupate. Actellic-resistant strain of T. castaneum showed some cross-resistance to methoprene and pyriproxyfen, but not to RH-5849 and tebufenozide. Pyriproxyfen was the most effective compound among the four IGRs; a concentration of 0.1 ppm could completely inhibit the F(1) adult occurrence of both S- and R-strains of T. castaneum and its LC(90)s for controlling R. dominica and S. oryzae were 0.1 and 1.2 ppm, respectively. Methoprene was highly effective against R. dominica, but less active on S. oryzae. RH-5849 could achieve almost complete control of F(1) adults of T. castaneum and R. dominica at 10 ppm, but was less potent on S. oryzae. Tebufenozide appeared to be much less active on these three species compared with the other three compounds. The percentage reductions of F(1) adults for S- and R-strains of T. castaneum at a concentration of 20 ppm were 80 and 99%, respectively.