Data from: Timing of recovery of Tribolium castaneum (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) after contact insecticide exposure in different environmental and diet conditions

Insects that infest postharvest commodities can cause significant damage or destruction, costing billions of dollars in lost product yearly. Insecticide treatments applied to surfaces as contact insecticides have been shown to be effective in managing populations of these insects. However, recovery after exposure to these insecticides, due to sublethal exposure periods, is significantly increased if there is food present in non-treated, recovery areas, which can lead to insect recovery and an ineffective treatment leading to further infestations. In addition, environmental variation in temperature and humidity could also play a significant role in recovery after a sublethal insecticide exposure. Here we assess the recovery of Tribolium castaneum Herbst, red flour beetle, after exposure to a contact insecticide with and without food at different temperatures, relative humidity (RH) levels, differing amounts of food, and particle presence with no nutrition. The dataset provides details on the number of insects knocked down or running every 15 minutes for a 3 hour (h) exposure to deltamethrin contact insecticide and knocked down and running insects 24 h, 48 h, and 168 h post-exposure at varying recovery parameters. All insects were exposed at the same environmental conditions. Each assay was conducted independently with all controls repeated each time. Diet, temperature, and RH were all varied during recovery only. Each treatment was done 5 times for each block; three total blocks were completed.