Morphological and Molecular Characterization of Entomophthorales (Entomophthoromycota: Entomophthoromycotina) from Argentina

MANFRINO ROMINA G.; CASTRILLO LOUELA A.; LÓPEZ LASTRA CLAUDIA C.; TOLEDO ANDREA V.; FERRARI WALTER ; JENSEN ANNETTE B.

Acta Mycologica

Polish Botanical Society

Año: 2020

0001-625X

We characterized 17 insect-pathogenic entomophthoralean fungal isolates (Entomophthoromycotina: Entomophthorales) using morphological andmolecular techniques. We identified four species from various insect hosts:(i) Entomophthora planchoniana, six specimens from aphids; (ii) Pandoraneoaphidis, three specimens from aphids; (iii) Zoophthora phalloides from anaphid; and (iv) Z. radicans, seven specimens from insects in the orders Diptera,Hemiptera, and Lepidoptera. Analysis of ITS1 data from E. planchoniana showedclustering in accordance to aphid host species. Entomophthora planchonianafrom Macrosiphum euphorbiae clustered together, separate from the isolatefrom Myzus persicae. The P. neoaphidis specimens clustered with sequencesfrom other aphid-pathogenic Pandora species in GenBank. In this study, Z.phalloides from Brevicoryne brassicae and Z. radicans from an unidentified speciesof Chironomidae (Diptera) in Argentina were characterized for the first time. Thepresent study was initiated to elucidate the taxonomy of the entomophthoraleanfungi in Argentina according to their morphological and molecular characters.The presented results emphasize the significance of the combination of moleculardata and information on morphology, ecology, and host range for accurateidentification of entomophthoralean and allied genera.