Efficacy of Selected Bait and Residual Toxicants for Control of Bigheaded Ants, Pheidole Megacephala (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), in Large Field Plots

Residual and bait product efficacies were compared against foraging ant populations in a field test for efficacy against bigheaded ants, Pheidole megacephala. At 7 d after exposure (DAE), the residual product Transport (23% acetamiprid with 27% bifenthrin), Advion fire ant bait (0.045% indoxacarb), and Siesta fire ant bait (0.063% metaflumizone) had significantly fewer ants than Arena 50WP (50% clothianidin) and MaxForce fire ant bait (0.0005% fipronil) which did not differ significantly from each other. All products had fewer ants than the controls. At 14 DAE, Transport had fewer ants than the controls and other products, while Arena was not different from Advion or Siesta. At 28 DAE, MaxForce had fewer ants than the controls and other treatments with the exception of Advion, which did not have fewer ants than the controls. Residual treatments will likely need greater water volume to penetrate ground covers and soil to reach subterranean ants, and combined with a longer acting bait such as MaxForce, should suppress BHA populations for at least 3 weeks.