Pheromone trap for monitoring insecticide resistance in the pink bollworm moth (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae): new tool for resistance management

A rapid technique using sex pheromone and insecticide-laced traps was developed for measuring insecticide resistance in pink bollworm moth, Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders). The new method eliminated handling of insects that is involved in other methods of assessing toxicity, and is compatible with the current practice of monitoring populations with pheromone traps. It was important to test and standardize duration of males' postcapture exposure to insecticide-laced sticker, temperature that males were exposed to after capture, quantity of sticker used, and age of males when captured.