Natural occurrence of Pandora sp. (Entomophthoromycota) as pathogen of spittlebug (Hemiptera: Cercopidae) pests of crops and pastures in Argentina

FOIERI, A.; TOLEDO, A.; PEDRINI, N.; VIRLA, E.G.

Mendes

Congreso; 15th International Auchenorrhyncha Congress; 2017

Spittlebugs (Hemiptera:Cercopidae) are a major biotic limit to forage grass, milkand beef production in rangelands and pastures of the Neotropics (Valério et al,1996). These insects inflictheavy economic damage to pasture grasses and crops such as rice, sugarcaneand corn, causing mechanical damage by feeding, by the physiological effects ofsaliva and by facilitating the entry of pathogenic microorganisms (Peck 2001, Peck et al, 2004). Within the fungal familyEntomophthoraceae approximately 16% of the entomopathogenic species correspondto Pandora genus. This genus infectsmainly species from the orders Hemiptera and Diptera, to a lesser extent,Coleoptera, Hymenoptera and Lepidoptera. According to the bibliography, to thepresent the only families of Hemiptera affected by this fungal genus are Aphidae,Aleyrodidae, Cicadidae, Jassidae and Delphacidae (Keller 2007). The natural occurrence of entomophthoraleanfungi infecting spittlebugs in Argentina wasinvestigated during November to May in the period 2013-2016.Adults and nymphs were collected from Sorghum halepense and Setaria parviflora var. parviflora in San Miguel de Tucumán, Tucumán province, were collected from their host plants usingaspirators, nets or entomological forceps. Fungalspecies were characterized on the basis of morphological and molecular keys. Microscopiccharacters were described from material mounted in lactophenol/aceto-orcein (1%w/v), and the amplification of the SSU rDNA was carried out using the universalprimers nu-SSU-0021-5´ and nu-SSU-1780-3´. This study reports for the first time the occurrence of Pandora sp. (Fig. 1) infecting adults of the economically importantspittlebugs Deois (Deois) mourei (Fig.1, a-b), D. (D.) knoblauchii, Isozuliachristenseni christenseni and Notozuliaentreriana (Fig. 1, c-d) increasing the host range andgeographical distribution of entomophthoralean fungi.