Comparison of spinetoram, imidacloprid, thiamethoxam and chlorantraniliprole against life stages of Tribolium confusum Jacquelin du Val (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) on concrete O. Saglam a, b , C.G. Athanassiou a, * , T.N. Vassilakos a a Laboratory of Entomology and Agricultural Zoology, Department of Agriculture, Plant Production and Rural Environment, University of Thessaly, Phytokou str., 38446 Nea Ionia, Magnesia, Greece b Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Namik Kemal University, Ziraat Fakültesi, 59030 De girmenaltı, Tekirda g, Turkey article info Article history: Received 17 August 2012 Received in revised form 5 May 2013 Accepted 9 May 2013 Keywords: Spinetoram Imidacloprid Thiamethoxam Chlorantraniliprole Tribolium confusum Concrete surfaces abstract Spinetoram, imidacloprid, thiamethoxam and chlorantraniliprole are new insecticides with novel mode of actions, low mammalian toxicity and low impact to environment. In the present study, the efficacy of these insecticides was tested against Tribolium confusum Jacquelin du Val on concrete. Among the tested insecticides, spinetoram proved to be more effective, providing complete control of T. confusum adults and young larvae after 14 days of exposure. For the young larvae, thiamethoxam at the highest dose and chlorantraniliprole at both doses were equally effective with spinetoram. On the other hand, none of the tested insecticides were able to control T. confusum pupae. Moreover, none of the insecticides had ovicidal effect, with the exception of chlorantraniliprole in some combinations. From the mobile life stages, the most tolerant life stages were old larvae and the most susceptible young larvae. The presence of food (flour) moderated T. confusum mortality. From the results of the present study, we can conclude that spinetoram, thiamethoxam and chlorantraniliprole showed potential and need be further evaluated for surface treatments in stored product facilities. Our work underlined the need for good cleaning and sanitation procedures in warehouses and food processing facilities. Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Tribolium confusum Jacquelin du Val (Coleoptera: Tene- brionidae), a secondary colonizer, is a serious pest in cereal pro- cessing facilities and a major pest in flour mills (Trematerra and Süss, 2006). T. confusum infestation is directly related to serious product loses and qualitative degradations (Aitken, 1975). Chemical control is the main strategy for T. confusum and other stored product pests in food processing facilities and silos. For instance, phosphine fumigation is the most common method for disinfes- tation of these facilities, but this method cannot provide long term protection as reinfestation can quickly occur (Campbell et al., 2010). Resistance has been reported to phosphine and also to contact in- secticides such as malathion, chlorpyriphos-methyl and dichlorvos in some strains of T. confusum (Zettler, 1991). Alternatives to phosphine are heat treatment and controlled atmospheres which are effective in controlling Tribolium species (Chiappini et al., 2009; Mahroof et al., 2003), but both methods are expensive and cannot provide protection for a long period. Heat treatment with tem- peratures above 50  C can control the adults of Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), but cannot totally control all the life stages of the insects, and reinfestation is likely to occur one month after treatment (Opit et al., 2011). Residual insecticides have also been used against Tribolium species in mills and food processing facilities, but resistance has been reported for some of them, such as organophosphates and pyrethroids (Subramanyam et al., 1989; Collins, 1990). One insec- ticide with a novel mode of action is spinetoram, a mixture of two synthetically modified spinosyns (spinosyn J and spinosyn L) which are metabolites of the bacterium Saccharopolyspora spinosa Mertz and Yao (Bacteria: Actinobacteridae). Spinetoram has a neurotoxic mode of action on insects, through contact or ingestion, and it was introduced as a novel insecticide with greater potency and faster speed of action in comparison with the older spinosyn-based relative spinosad (Dripps et al., 2008; Sparks et al., 2008). Spine- toram is ineffective against T. confusum when applied directly on wheat, Triticum aestivum L. (Vassilakos et al., 2012). However, the efficacy of spinetoram against T. confusum has not been examined so far as a surface application. * Corresponding author. Tel./fax: þ30 2421093195. E-mail address: athanassiou@agr.uth.gr (C.G. Athanassiou). Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Crop Protection journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cropro 0261-2194/$ e see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cropro.2013.05.007 Crop Protection 53 (2013) 85e95