Abstract

TOLEDO, A. V.; DE REMES LENICOV, A. M. M.  and  LOPEZ LASTRA, C. C.. Host range findings on Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae (Ascomycota: Hypocreales) in Argentina. Bol. Soc. Argent. Bot. [online]. 2008, vol.43, n.3-4, pp.211-220. ISSN 1851-2372.

The natural insect host range of the entomopathogenic fungi (EPF) Beauveria bassiana (Bb) and Metarhizium anisopliae (Ma) was investigated in Argentina during the winter of 2003 through spring of 2004. Fungi- infected insect samples (153) were collected from cornfields and the surrounding uncultivated areas in different localities of Buenos Aires (7), Tucumán (2), and Corrientes (3) provinces. The rates of Bb-infected host range varied among the Coleoptera (37%), Hemiptera (27%) and Dermaptera (1.3%). While the rates of Ma-infected host range varied between the Coleoptera (0.7%) and Hemiptera (34%). The greater host range resulted with B. bassiana found from eight species of Coleoptera (four families), one species of Dermaptera and four species of Hemiptera (three families), than the host range of M. anisopliae found infecting one species of Coleoptera and three species of Hemiptera (two families). We obtained 75 pure fungal isolates (48 Bb-isolates and 27 to Ma-isolates), and 56 of them (33 Bb-isolates and 23 Ma-isolates) were morphologically characterized.

Keywords : Beauveria bassiana; Biological control; Coleoptera; Dermaptera; Hemiptera; Entomopathogenic fungi; Metarhizium anisopliae.

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