Orius sauteri (Poppius; Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) is an important predator of western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande; Thysanoptera: Thripidae). O. sauteri would be directly exposed to the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana (Bals.) Vuillemin in the field should the fungus be used as a biopesticide. If the fungus were to negatively affect O. sauteri in agro-ecosystems,...

Citrus Variegated Chlorosis (CVC) is an economically important, destructive disease in Brazil and is caused by Xylella fastidiosa and transmitted by sharpshooter insects. In this study, the efficacy of the fungus Metarhizium anisopliae in controlling the sharpshooter Oncometopia facialis was studied by bioassay conditions. In the bioassay, insects were sprayed with a suspension containing 5 X 1...

In Mauritius, the peach fruit fly, Bactrocera zonata Saunders (Diptera: Tephritidae), and the melon fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett), are the major pest of fruits and vegetables, respectively. Fruit growers make use of broad-spectrum insecticides to protect their crops from fruit fly attack. This method of fruit fly control is hazardous to the environment and is a threat to beneficial in...

Whereas studies have extensively examined the ability of bacteria to influence Plasmodium infection in the mosquito, the tripartite interactions between non-entomopathogenic fungi, mosquitoes, and Plasmodium parasites remain largely uncharacterized. Here we report the isolation of a common mosquito-associated ascomycete fungus, Penicillium chrysogenum, from the midgut of field-caught Anopheles ...

Herrero N, Pérez R, Oleaga A, Zabalgogeazcoa I. 2011. Tick pathogenicity, thermal tolerance and virus infection in Tolypocladium cylindrosporum. Annals of Applied Biology 159:192-201. Tolypocladium cylindrosporum is a fungus which has been isolated from soil, from asymptomatic plants as an endophyte, and has been shown to be pathogenic to several species of arthropods. The objective of the pres...

Biological control of pests in agroecosystems could be enhanced by combining multiple natural enemies. However, this approach might also compromise the control efficacy through intraguild predation (IGP) among the natural enemies. Parasitoids may be able to avoid the risk of unidirectional IGP posed by entomopathogenic fungi through selective oviposition behavior during host foraging. Trybliogr...