Natural occurrence in Argentina of a new fungal pathogen of cockroaches, Metarhizium argentinense sp. nov

LECLERQUE, ANDREAS; FERRARI, WALTER A.O.; LÓPEZ LASTRA, CLAUDIA C.; MANFRINO, ROMINA G.; BARNECHE, JORGE; GUTIERREZ, ALEJANDRA C.; LUZ, CHRISTIAN; GARCÍA, JUAN J.

Fungal Biology

Elsevier

Año: 2019 vol. 123 p. 364 - 372

1878-6146

The aim of this study was the search for entomopathogenic fungi that infec wild cokroaches in forest ecosystems in two protected areas of Argentina. Two isolates of Metarhizium argentinense were obtained and identified from wild cockroaches (Blaberidae: Epilamprinae) through the use of morphological characteristics and molecular phyloegenitc analyses.This novel species was found in Argentina and is memeber of Metarhizium flavoviridae species complex.Phylogenetic analyses based on sequence similaruty using internal transcribed spacer ITS and set of four protein coding marquer sequences (EF1A, RPB1, RPB2 and BTUB) supported the status of this fungus as a new species. In addition we tested the biological activity of the new species through assays against Blatella germanica nymphs and found that the two evaluated isolates were pathogenic .