Effects of maximum residue limit of triflumezopyrim exposure on fitness of the red imported fire ant .

The impact of exposure to free feeding concentrations of triflumezopyrim to the red imported fire ant, , in maximum residue tolerances for 56 days was investigated to understand whether triflumezopyrim, a novel neonicotinoid, poses unacceptable risks to the environment. Our results demonstrated that neither 0.5 μg/ml nor 0.2 μg/ml triflumezopyrim have a significant impact on the growth of the colony and their food consumption (sugar water and locusts) during the length of treatment. While both 0.5 μg/ml and 0.2 μg/ml triflumezopyrim improved the grasping ability of , and 0.5 μg/ml not 0.2 μg/ml triflumezopyrim increased their rate of locomotion. In addition, although 0.5 μg/ml and 0.2 μg/ml triflumezopyrim increased their individual aggressiveness index, the probability of the survival of was not impacted by triflumezopyrim treatments in aggressive group encounters. This study suggests that triflumezopyrim did not have a negative impact on the fitness of at 0.5 μg/ml and 0.2 μg/ml exposures.