Horizontal transmission of Metarhizium anisopliae (Hypocreales: Clavicipitacea) and the effects of infection on oviposition rate in laboratory populations of Musca domestica (Diptera: Muscidae)

Abstract

BACKGROUND RESULTSMetarhizium anisopliae was transmitted between adult M. domestica flies with 91.67% -100% mortality resulting across the three ratios of infected: non-infected flies tested (1:2, 1:5, 1:10). The mean lethal time (LT50) for female recipients mixed with infected male donor flies at the three ratios were 3.95, 4.79 and 5.65 days, respectively, whereas for male recipients mixed with infected female donors at the same ratios the LT50 were 4.98, 5.98 and 7.44 days, respectively. Infection with M.anisopliae significantly reduced the reproductive capacity of female flies during the first four days of infection with 25% less eggs oviposited by infected flies than those that were uninfected. CONCLUSIONAutodissemination among house flies and reduction in oviposition in the early stages of infection could contribute significantly to the effectiveness of M. anisopliae used in biocontrol programs.

Effect of Fungal Infection on Defence Proteins of <i>Musca domestica L.</i> and Variation of Virulence with Temperature

“…Sorok. (Ascomycota: Hypocreales), to house fly has been reported by previous authors (e.g., Lecuona et al, 2005;Baker et al, 2018). Oyerinde (2017) reported 70% and 91% mortality among infected adult and larval house flies, respectively.…”

Development of a Mycoinsecticide Bait Formulation for the Control of House Flies, Musca domestica L.

“…The long incubation period required to achieve mortality with entomopathogenic fungi potentially allows infected flies to continue to reproduce before death. Previous studies have demonstrated, however, that M. anisopliae infection in house flies can significantly reduce female fecundity and that M. anisopliae is readily transmissible between conspecifics [43][44][45]. Thus, the use of mycoinsecticides can have additional population reducing effects aside from direct mortality.…”

Entomopathogenic fungus, Metarhizium anisopliae, anchored onto MCM-41 silica nanomaterial: A novel and effective insecticide against potato tuber moth in stored potatoes

“…On the other hand, Khorrami et al (2018) found a lower LC 50 value (= 1.9×10 5 conidia/ml) relatively to our results for pure M. anisopliae, which could be also attributed to variation in the entomopathogenic fungus isolate. Other studies have also revealed the effi cacy of M. anisopliae in pest control (Lacey et al, 1994;Ansari et al, 2004Ansari et al, , 2007Marannino et al, 2006;Meyling and Eilenberg, 2007;Baker et al, 2018) while Khorrami et al (2018) evaluated the pathogenicity of M. anisopliae against the potato tuber moth in comparison with Nomuraea rileyi and Paecilomyces tenuipes. In the latter study, N. rileyi presented the highest toxicity against neonate larvae of PTM in laboratory conditions (LC 50 value equivalent to 1.0×10 3 conidia/ml) whereas M. anisopliae and P. tenuipes had lower activity (LC 50 values equivalent to 1.9×10 5 and 2.4×10 6 conidia/ml, respectively).…”