{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,7]],"date-time":"2026-05-07T14:23:04Z","timestamp":1778163784457,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"PeerJ","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,29]],"date-time":"2024-02-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1709164800000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Higher Education Commission of Pakistan","award":["PM-IPFP\/HRD\/HEC\/2012\/4023"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PM-IPFP\/HRD\/HEC\/2012\/4023"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"abstract":"<jats:p>Ants belonging to the <jats:italic>Monomorium indicum<\/jats:italic> (Formicidae: Hymenoptera) species are ubiquitous insects that are commonly associated with household settings in Pakistan. Packaged foodstuffs are easily destroyed by household ants when packaging is made with materials that have a high susceptibility. This study evaluated the susceptibility of three common flexible plastic packaging materials namely: opaque polyethylene, transparent polyethylene and polypropylene, which were each tested at thicknesses of 0.02 mm for their susceptibility against <jats:italic>M. indicum<\/jats:italic>. Except opaque polyethylene which is only available at 0.02 mm thickness, both transparent polyethylene and polypropylene were tested at higher thickness of 0.04 mm and 0.06 mm also against <jats:italic>M. indicum<\/jats:italic>. In order to simulate household settings, experiments were conducted at the faculty building of the agriculture and environment department of The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan during summer vacations when the building was quiet. Different corners were selected near water sources for maximum exposure to the largest number of ants. Experimental cages used for the experiment were built with wood and 2 mm iron gauze to allow only ants to enter the cages. Daily activity of ants was used as an infestation source in cages. Experiments were run over three time spans of fifteen days each from June 20th 2022 to August 15th 2022. Results showed all packaging materials were susceptible against <jats:italic>M. indicum<\/jats:italic> at the 0.02 mm thickness level. Polypropylene was susceptible at 0.04 mm thickness but resistant to ants at 0.06 mm thickness, whereas polyethylene was still susceptible to ants at the higher thickness of 0.06 mm. Correlation of packaging damage with weather factors showed that temperature had a positive relationship, while relative humidity had a negative association with <jats:italic>M. indicum<\/jats:italic> attack. Overall correlation of packaging damage with packaging thickness showed packaging thickness was negatively associated with packaging damage from the ants. Because major cutting role is performed by the mandibles, we studied mandibles of ants and three frequent pests of packaged foodstuff namely <jats:italic>Rhyzopertha dominica<\/jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Tribolium castaneum<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Trogoderma granarium<\/jats:italic>. The results showed that ants had the largest mandible and frontal mandibular tooth lengths compared with the mandibles and frontal teeth of the common stored product pests, indicating <jats:italic>M. indicum<\/jats:italic> household ants have a higher pest status for packaged foodstuffs compared to common stored product pests. Although the thickness of the flexible plastic packaging was a major factor against household ants, the study results recommend the use of polypropylene with a thickness of at least 0.06 mm as foodstuff packaging against household ants compared with polyethylene packaging, which was found to be susceptible to ants even at 0.06 mm thickness.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.7717\/peerj.16782","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,29]],"date-time":"2024-02-29T10:23:02Z","timestamp":1709202182000},"page":"e16782","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Susceptibility of flexible plastic foodstuffs packaging against <i>Monomorium indicum<\/i> (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) household ants"],"prefix":"10.7717","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Muhammad Junaid","family":"Iqbal","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, Islamia University of Bahawalpur,  Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Muhammad Waqar","family":"Hassan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, Islamia University of Bahawalpur,  Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ghulam","family":"Sarwar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biology, Faculty of Chemical and Biological Sciences, Islamia University of Bahawalpur,  Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Moazzam","family":"Jamil","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, Islamia University of Bahawalpur,  Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Tanveer","family":"Hussain","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Forest Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, Islamia University of Bahawalpur,  Punjab, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"4443","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"10.7717\/peerj.16782\/ref-1","first-page":"9","article-title":"Evaluation of different plastic packing materials and food substrates on efficacy of phosphine fumigation against larvae of Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) and Trogoderma granarium (Everts) (Coleoptera: Dermestidae)","volume":"2","author":"Akram","year":"2018","journal-title":"Plant Protection"},{"key":"10.7717\/peerj.16782\/ref-2","first-page":"341","volume-title":"Stored product insect pest management and control","author":"Arthur","year":"2003"},{"key":"10.7717\/peerj.16782\/ref-3","article-title":"Foraging activity and food preferences of the odorous house ant (Tapinoma sessile Say) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)","author":"Barbani","year":"2003","journal-title":"Thesis MS"},{"key":"10.7717\/peerj.16782\/ref-4","first-page":"207","article-title":"Ants: formicidae, hymenoptera","volume-title":"Ecology and management of food industry pests","author":"Beatson Campbell","year":"1991"},{"key":"10.7717\/peerj.16782\/ref-5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5772\/53421","article-title":"Bait Evaluation Methods for Urban Pest Management","volume-title":"Insecticides - Development of Safer and More Effective Technologies. 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