Jalysus wickhami (Hemiptera: Berytidae): toxicity of pesticides applied to the soil or in the transplant water of flue-cured tobacco

The effects of 13 pesticides applied to soil or in water at transplantation of flue-cured tobacco on spined stilt bug, Jalysus wickhami Van Duzee, survival were evaluated. The experiments were done in the laboratory and field at Oxford, N.C., from 1981 to 1984. Because spined stilt bugs probe tobacco leaves and suck plant juices, they are vulnerable to systemic pesticides. The systemic materials aldicarb, carbofuran, and phenamiphos were especially toxic to these beneficial predators of tobacco pests. All other pesticides were not toxic to spined stilt bugs in field experiments, although some were toxic when applied on tobacco in glass lantern globes in the laboratory