Virulence Screen of Beauveria Bassiana Isolates for Australian Carpophilus (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) Beetle Biocontrol

Abstract

Carpophilus beetles are serious pests of Australian fruit and nut crops, causing significant damage through adult and larval feeding and vectoring plant diseases. Six strains of the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana ((Balsamo) Vuillemin; Hypocreales: Cordycipitaceae), isolated from a range of hosts in Australia, together with one commercial strain, were screened for virulence to adult and larval stages of Carpophilus attacking stone fruits (C. davidsoni (Dobson)) and almonds (C. truncatus (Murray)) under laboratory conditions. The two species differed significantly in their susceptibility to the B. bassiana isolates. In the adult beetle assay, C. truncatus had a maximum Abbott’s control corrected mortality of 19% when treated with the most effective isolate, B54, compared to 52% for C.davidsoni. In larval bioassays, mortality rates for the two species were generally higher than adults: four isolates caused greater than 80% mortality in C. davidsoni; while only one isolate was considered effective against C. truncatus (causing 73% mortality), all other isolates caused less than 40% mortality. The results indicate promising potential for B. bassiana to be applied as a biopesticide as part of an integrated pest management strategy, which might take the form of a soil application against larvae or an autodissemination program using adult beetles.

Phenotypic, molecular, and virulence characterization of entomopathogenic fungi, Beauveria bassiana (Balsam) Vuillemin, and Metarhizium anisopliae (Metschn.) Sorokin from soil samples of Ethiopia for the development of mycoinsecticide

“…and 75% with Metarhizium spp at 1 Â 10 8 spores/ml of 10 days post-application. The effectiveness of infection by entomopathogenic fungi to a specific insect host might be due to the particular genetic assemblage of virulence factors encompassing a pathotype that adapted to singular or broad host (Valero-Jim enez et al, 2016) and their ability to out-compete the host defense mechanisms (Boston et al, 2020).…”

Macrofauna Epiedáfica Associada a Solos Submetidos a Diferentes Usos

“…Os nitidulídeos apresentam boa distribuição, pois são majoritariamente saprófagos e micófagos, podendo ser encontrados em troncos, flores ou associados a frutos em estado inicial de decomposição no solo (Casari e Ide, 2012;Bernardes et al, 2020). De acordo com Casari e Ide (2012) e Callejas-Chavero et al ( 2019), entretanto, algumas espécies dessa família são consideradas pragas de grãos, bem como de frutas e nozes (Boston et al, 2020).…”

Biopesticides and insect pollinators: Detrimental effects, outdated guidelines, and future directions

“…As regards the effects of biopesticides on coleopteran pollinators, the framework is somehow similar to what reported for lepidopteran and dipteran species. Several studies have begun to evaluate the effects of microbial biopesticides on beetle species that can act as both pest and pollinators (Glazer et al, 1999;Niu et al, 2018;Cottrell et al, 2019aCottrell et al, , 2019bBoston et al, 2020), but the attention is mainly focused on the lethal effects. Nonetheless, different families of Coleoptera are known to pollinate flowering plants.…”