Overuse of pesticides can result in the development of resistance, secondary pest outbreaks, and pest resurgence due to a reduction in natural enemies. The present study compares the residual toxicity of lambda-cyhalothrin, a relatively nonselective insecticide, with abamectin, indoxacarb, and spinosad, compounds which have been reported to be less harmful to arthropod natural enemies. Two key cosmopolitan pests of crucifer crops, (Plutella xylostella) and (Myzus persicae), and two of their respective hymenopteran parasitoids, (Cotesia vestalis) and (Aphidius colemani) were used as representative pests and natural enemies. The pyrethroid lambda-cyhalothrin was found to be the most persistent toxicant against both pest and both parasitoid species tested, while the lactones abamectin and spinosad were the least persistent toxicants. A leaf wax stripping technique was used to compare the contact toxicity of insecticide residues against adult C. vestalis and A. colemani in the epicuticular wax layer. For each compound, removal of epicuticular wax reduced the 24 h residual toxicity (LC₅₀) of fresh deposits (day 0) by about an order of magnitude against C. vestalis. A second residual toxicity experiment showed that removal of epicuticular wax significantly reduced the residual toxicity of each compound against A. colemani at 0, 7, and 14 d after application, with little or no detectable residual activity for the oxadiazine indoxacarb or abamectin/spinosad respectively after 14 d. The present data supports the view that in addition to the intrinsic toxicity of insecticides to natural enemies, differences in their persistence as foliar residues should also be considered in IPM systems.