ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTION Efficacy of sulphur on Tuta absoluta and its side effects on the predator Nesidiocoris tenuis L. Zappala ` 1 , G. Siscaro 1 , A. Biondi 1 , O. Molla ´ 2 , J. Gonza ´ lez-Cabrera 2 & A. Urbaneja 2 1 Dipartimento di Gestione dei Sistemi Agroalimentari e Ambientali, University of Catania, Catania, Italy 2 Unidad de Entomologı´a UJI-IVIA-CIB CSIC. Centro de Proteccio ´n Vegetal y Biotecnologı´a, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (IVIA), Valencia, Spain Introduction The South American Tomato Pinworm, Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), is originally from South America, where it is considered to be one of the most important pests in tomato crop (Bar- rientos et al. 1998; Estay 2000; EPPO 2010) In Europe, T. absoluta was first detected in northern Castello ´ n de la Plana (Spain) at the end of 2006 (Urbaneja et al. 2007). Since that time, it has spread throughout the Mediterranean basin and through continental countries, including Germany, Switzer- land, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. This pest occurs throughout the entire growing cycle of Keywords field, greenhouse, integrated pest management, Miridae, South American Tomato Pinworm Correspondence Lucia Zappala ` (corresponding author), Dipartimento di Gestione dei Sistemi Agroalimentari e Ambientali, University of Catania, Via Santa Sofia, 100 – 95123 Catania, Italy. E-mail: lzappala@unict.it Received: May 23, 2011; accepted: July 15 2011. doi: 10.1111/j.1439-0418.2011.01662.x Abstract The South American tomato pinworm, Tuta absoluta (Meyrick), is one of the major pests of tomato crop. Since its detection in the Mediterra- nean basin, it has been commonly controlled using chemical insecti- cides. However, inoculation and conservation of predatory mirids, integrated with sprays of selective insecticides, has been demonstrated to be a cost-effective strategy for controlling this pest. In this work, we tested the efficacy of two sulphur formulations, dustable and wettable powder, for controlling T. absoluta on tomato under greenhouse and open-field conditions. In addition, the side effects of both sulphur for- mulations on the predator, Nesidiocoris tenuis (Reuter), were evaluated under laboratory conditions. Dustable sulphur, applied weekly on tomato seedlings artificially infested with T. absoluta in greenhouse con- ditions, significantly reduced the infestation levels and was demon- strated to have a repellent effect on oviposition. Wettable sulphur was not effective for controlling T. absoluta populations in both greenhouse and open-field experiments. In the side effect trials conducted with N. tenuis, only dustable sulphur resulted in being moderately harmful as a fresh residue and slightly harmful as a 7-day-old residue; no effects were recorded exposing the predator to 14-day-old sulphur residues. In contrast, wettable sulphur was classified as harmless to N. tenuis. Our results suggest that the use of sulphur, especially as dustable powder, could be considered as a tool in T. absoluta management strategies, although its side effects on N. tenuis should be taken into account. The implications of these results for the use of sulphur formulations in pest and disease management programmes in tomato crops are discussed. J. Appl. Entomol. J. Appl. Entomol. 136 (2012) 401–409 ª 2011 Blackwell Verlag, GmbH 401