Two Microsporidia species are known to parasitize Dichroplus elongatus in the Pampas region of Argentina, allochthonous Paranosema locustae, a generalist pathogen of the adipose tissue of grasshoppers with efficient horizontal and vertical transmission routes, and autochthonous Liebermannia dichropluse, a D. elongatus-specific pathogen of the Malpighian tubules with effective transovarial transmission but unknown horizontal transfer. Long-term monitoring of grasshopper communities for detection of microsporidioses revealed that it is not often that these two pathogens co-exist in populations of D. elongatus, even in different individuals. We report the unusual detection for the first time of a co-infection by P. locustae and L. dichroplusae in D. elongatus at a site in the southern Pampas. Given the own traits that characterize both pathogens we presume that the most likely scenario for the occurrence of the observed mixed infection is that the affected D. elongatus individual was already infected by L. dichroplusae when it contracted infection by P. locustae. Unfortunately, our attempts to induce infections with L. dichroplusae in the laboratory through experimental inoculations have not produced positive results, preventing efforts towards testing our presumption through laboratory bioassays. However, Microsporidia natural mixed infections appear to be so rare that we believe this case is worth reporting.
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