ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE Effects of soil application of two different fipronil formulations on some soil-dwelling non-target arthropods Muhammad Asad 1,2,3 & Sohail Ahmed 1 & Rashad Rasool Khan 1 & Abid Ali 1,4 & Muhammad Fahad Raza 1,5 & Ammarah Shabbir 1,3 & Faisal Munir 1,2,3 & Anam Noreen Abbas 1,2,3 & Mubashir Tariq 1,2,3 Received: 16 April 2020 /Revised: 14 July 2020 /Accepted: 14 September 2020 # African Association of Insect Scientists 2020 Abstract Soil arthropods, including soil insects and mites, play a significant role in the recycling of fertility material and maintenance of soil structure. This study was performed to determine the non-target effects of two different formulations of fipronil on four groups of soil-dwelling insects (collembola, earwig, staphylinids and ants) and one group of mites. The pitfall traps were installed to estimate the arthropod population. The population per trap was evaluated after 3, 6, 9 12, 15, 18 and 21 days after insecticides’ application. The population of soil-dwelling arthropods was significantly reduced in the case of fipronil 5% SC (soluble concentration) treated plots after 3 and 6 days of application. However, the fipronil 0.3 GR (granule) was more toxic at 9th and 12th day of application. The toxicity of fipronil was decreased with the passage of time but fipronil 0.3 GR remained toxic until 18 days in some cases. Hence, both formulations of fipronil reduced the population of non-target soil arthropods, but fipronil 5% SC was more toxic than fipronil 0.3 GR when compared with the untreated check (control plot). According to these results, the application of fipronil should be reduced and find an alternative way instead of this pesticide. Keywords Fipronil . Insecticide formulations . Persistent toxicity . Soil-dwelling arthropods Introduction The soil composition and fertility are considered among the major factors in agricultural productivity (Mueller et al. 2010). Soil arthropods including insects and mites are among the sig- nificant factors for retaining soil physical properties and main- taining the soil structure through the recycling of fertility mate- rial (Culliney 2013). The most abundant soil insect group are Springtails (Hexapoda: Collembolans), which have an extremely high density of almost 20,000 collembolans per square meter of soil (Paul et al. 2011). Springtails are often found abundantly in the soils and leaf-litter and mostly feed on decaying vegetation and fungal spores, although some species of springtails are predaceous in nature (Dold 2011). Orbited soil mites relate to primary decomposers through complex top-down and bottom-up effects, which play a key role in soil organic matter decomposition and nutrient recycling (Rola et al. 2017). Rove beetles (Staphylinidae: Coleoptera) are soil-inhabiting predators and feed on everything except living tissues of higher plants (Frank and Ahn 2011; Kyneb and Toft 2006). Earwigs (Forficulidae, Dermaptera) are mostly found in small crevices, small amounts of debris and fallen bark and logs (Zhang 2013). They prefer dead and living plants and debris of animals (Kaçar and Nishikawa 2014). Ants (Formicdae, Hymenoptera) are mostly predatory in nature and feed on dead and decaying mat- ters (Hooper and Rust 1997). These soil arthropods play an important role in the sustainability of agro-ecosystems, accumu- lation of soil organic matter, nutrient cycling and maintain the soil structure (Michereff-Filho et al. 2004; Gulvik 2007 Binkley and Fisher 2012). Application of pesticides is a vital tool for crop protection in intense agriculture globally and the pesticides applied * Muhammad Asad axadch@outlook.com 1 Department of Entomology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan 2 Key Laboratory of Integrated Pest Management for Fujian-Taiwan Crops, Ministry of Agriculture, 350002 Fuzhou, China 3 College of Plant Protection, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China 4 College of Life Science, Shenyang Normal University, Shenyang 110034, China 5 College of Life Sciences, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China International Journal of Tropical Insect Science https://doi.org/10.1007/s42690-020-00254-0