Morphological and molecular characterization of Entomophthorales (Entomophthoromycota: Entomophthoromycotina) from Argentina

CASTRILLO, L.A.; FERRARI, W. ; LÓPEZ LASTRA, C.C.; JENSEN, A.B.; MANFRINO, R.G.; TOLEDO, A. V.

ACTA MYCOLOGICA

Polish Botanical Society

Año: 2020 vol. 45

0001-625X

We characterized seventeen insect-pathogenic entomophthoralean fungi (Entomophthoromycotina: Entomophthorales) using morphological and molecular techniques. We identified four species from various insect hosts: 1) Entomophthora planchoniana, six specimens from aphids; 2) Pandora neoaphidis, three specimens from aphids; 3) Zoophthora phalloides from an aphid, and 4) Z. radicans, seven specimens from insects in the orders Diptera, Hemiptera and Lepidoptera. Analysis of the ITS1 data for E. planchoniana showed clustering in accordance to aphid host species. Entomophthora planchoniana from Macrosiphum euphorbiae clustered together, separate from the isolate from Myzus persicae. The P. neoaphidis specimens clustered with others aphid pathogenic Pandora sp. sequences available in the Genbank database. In this study, Z. phalloides from Brevicoryne brassicae and Z. radicans from an unidentified species of Chironomidae (Diptera) in Argentina were characterized for first time.The present study was initiated to elucidate the taxonomy of the entomophthoralean fungi in Argentina using a combination of morphological characters and gene sequence data. The data presented further emphasize the significance of molecular data in entomophthoralean taxonomy and the combination of such data with information on morphology, ecology and hostrange for accurate identification of entomophthoralean species and allied genera.