Malays. Appl. Biol. (2009) 38(2): 29–35
CONTROL OF WEAVER ANT, Oecophylla smaragdina FABRICIUS (HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE) IN UNIVERSITI SAINS MALAYSIA’S MAIN CAMPUS BY USING FIPRONIL
YING-XIAN TAN, A. ABU HASSAN* and M.R. CHE SALMAH
School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia
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ABSTRACT
Oecophylla smaragdina Fabr. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) is a pest ant which is unacceptable to the farm workers due to their aggressive behavior. There is limited information on the control on this ant. Baiting of O. smaragdina was investigated in the field. Fipronil at the 0.01%, 0.1% and 1.0% successfully achieved 100% reduction on the numbers of O. smaragdina foragers within one week post-treatment. This total elimination of the weaver ant foragers was maintained at all the treated sites during the whole period of the study (8 week); except for one of the study sites treated with 0.01% fipronil where reinfestation occurred at the 8 week post-treatment. Three of the 0.01% fipronil baits and one of the 0.10% fipronil bait were found being completely consumed after 4th week post-treatment. There were no baits left untouched.
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