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BACKGROUND Agrotis ipsilon and Agrotis segetum are major migratory pests of many crops in China, and frequent regional outbreaks cause severe yield losses. Use of food attractants is one of the most promising control methods against adult lepidoptera, notably through the 'attract-and-kill' strategy. Chlorantraniliprole's acute toxicity and sublethal effects on both moths were evaluated. RESULTS Chlorantraniliprole showed high activity against both adults of both species, with LC20 and LC50 values were 0.08 and 0.21 mg L-1 (A. ipsilon) and, 0.14 and 0.51 mg L-1 (A. segetum). The fecundity, effective oviposition rate, and egg hatching rate of both species in dual-sex exposure treatments were all significantly reduced compared with the control, and the population growth coefficients in the LC50 ♀ × LC50 ♂ treatments were only 0.32% (A. ipsilon) and 3.35% (A. segetum) that of the control. Furthermore, the flight distance was significantly suppressed from 6.67 km (control) to 0.01 km (LC50 ) for A. ipsilon, and from 7.39 km (control) to 0.78 km (LC50 ) for A. segetum. The proportions of robust- and medium-flight individuals of A. ipsilon and A. segetum in exposure treatments were greatly reduced. CONCLUSIONS Low lethal concentration exposures to chlorantraniliprole can drastically reduce the reproduction and flight performance of A. ipsilon and A. segetum, while inhibiting the production of offspring, suggesting chlorantraniliprole would be an excellent compound for use in combination with food attractants. Chlorantraniliprole has good potential for management of the two long-range migratory pests tested using an 'attract-and-kill' strategy. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.