The infection efficacy of Metarhizium strains (Hypocreales: Clavicipitaceae) against the Queensland fruit fly Bactrocera tryoni (Diptera: Tephritidae).

Content Provider	Europe PMC
Author	McGuire, Amy V Edwards, William Northfield, and Tobin D
Editor	Dara, Surendra
Copyright Year	2023
Abstract	Abstract The Queensland fruit fly (Qfly), Bactrocera tryoni Froggatt, is a devastating pest of Australia’s commercial fruit systems. Fruit fly mitigation is heavily centered around the use chemical insecticides, with limited investigation into microbial control alternatives. The wet tropics of northern Queensland is a highly biodiverse ecosystem containing many species of insect pathogenic fungi, but it is unclear whether any of these entomopathogens could contribute to Qfly management programs. In laboratory trials, we investigated the potential for Qfly microbial control by 3 locally sourced strains of entomopathogenic fungi comprising 2 species, Metarhizium guizhouense (Chen and Guo) and Metarhizium lepidiotae (Driver and Milner). Additionally, we evaluated 2 different inoculation methods to derive the most effective way to expose the flies to conidia—either through dry conidia or in a conidial suspension. All 3 strains were successful in causing Qfly mortality. Metarhizium lepidiotae resulted in the highest mean mortality over the trials, while M. guizhouense resulted in the highest mortality in a single replicate. Laboratory experiments revealed exposure through dry conidia to be the most effective method to inoculate the flies. These results suggest that fungal entomopathogens could be a viable pathway to Qfly suppression.
Related Links	https://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=PMC10125037&blobtype=pdf
Page Count	5
ISSN	00220493
Volume Number	116
DOI	10.1093/jee/toad040
PubMed Central reference number	PMC10125037
Issue Number	2
PubMed reference number	36888550
Journal	Journal of Economic Entomology [J Econ Entomol]
e-ISSN	1938291X
Language	English
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Publisher Date	2023-04-01
Publisher Place	US
Access Restriction	Open
Rights License	This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com © The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America.
Subject Keyword	Metarhizium fruit fly biological control pest
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Ecology Medicine Insect Science