Effect of Metarhizium anisopliae on the fertility and fecundity of two species of fruit flies and horizontal transmission of mycotic infection

Abstract

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 insects. The entomopathogenic fungus, Metarhizium anisopliae (Metchnikoff) Sorokin (Hypocreales: Clavicipitaceae), which was isolated from the soils of Mauritius, was used to investigate whether fungus-treated adult fruit flies could transfer conidia to non-treated flies during mating, and whether fungal infection could have an effect on mating behavior, fecundity, and fertility of the two female fruit fly species. When treated male flies were maintained together with non-treated female flies, they were able to transmit infection to untreated females, resulting in high mortalities. Similarly, fungus-infected female flies mixed with untreated males also transmitted infections to males, also resulting in high mortalities. Infection by M. anisopliae also resulted in the reduction of the number of eggs produced by females of B. cucurbitae. The results suggest that M anisopliae may have potential for use in integrated control programs of B. zonata and B. cucurbitae using the sterile insect technique in Mauritius.

Entomopathogenic fungus isolates for adult Tuta absoluta (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) management and their compatibility with Tuta pheromone

“…The success of EPF as bio‐control agents depends partly on their ability to spread and their virulence (Baverstock, Roy, & Pell, 2009; Sookar, Bhagwant, & Allymamod, 2014). Tuta absoluta moths that were infected with fungal conidia in Plexiglas cages successfully transmitted the fungus inoculum to conspecifics and inflicted high mortality rates in recipient moth groups.…”

Increased Male-Male Mounting Behaviour in Desert Locusts during Infection with an Entomopathogenic Fungus

“…MMM behaviour involving infected and uninfected individuals could not transmit Metarhizium in the same way since the infective conidia are not produced on the cuticle until after the death of the infected locust. However, such behaviour might cause infected individuals to act as vectors for ungerminated conidia on their body surface, similar to the exploitation of opposite-sex sexual behaviour in Diptera for the horizontal transmission of Metarhizium anisopliae conidia 34 , 35 .…”

Evaluation of Locally Isolated Entomopathogenic Fungi against Multiple Life Stages of Bactrocera zonata and Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae): Laboratory and Field Study

“…A number of studies have evaluated EPF against Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) [ 25 , 26 , 27 ], Mexican fruit fly Anastrepha ludens (Loew) [ 28 , 29 , 30 ], European cherry fruit fly, Rhagoletis cerasi (L.) [ 31 ], western cherry fruit fly R. indifferens Curran [ 32 ], B. oleae (Rossi) [ 33 ], and R. pomonella (Walsh) [ 18 ]. However, very little work utilizing EPF isolates has been conducted on B. zonata [ 34 , 35 , 36 ] B. (Zeugodacus) cucurbitae (Coquillett) [ 34 , 35 ], and B. dorsalis [ 37 , 38 ].…”