Host Specificity of Microsporidia Pathogenic to Forest Lepidoptera

Microsporidia Biological Control Agents and Pathogens of Beneficial Insects

“…Surveys of gypsy moth and other Lepidoptera in Bulgaria found that the gypsy moth microsporidia, N. lymantriae, V. disparis, and E. schubergi, were only observed in gypsy moth and not in any of the other Lepidoptera. Similar specificity was reported in Slovakia where spore suspensions of N. lymantriae and V. disparis were sprayed onto foliage and resulted in limited nontarget infections that did not persist (Solter et al 2000(Solter et al , 2010.…”

“…The high virulence, lack of vertical transmission, and poor overwintering viability of spores have not indicated a definitive mechanism for interseasonal or generational persistence of V. disparis. Nevertheless, V. disparis has been recovered over successive years at a single site in Bulgaria (Solter et al 2000).…”

Studies on the impact of two Nosema isolates from Bulgaria on the gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar L.)

“…Entomopathogenic microsporidia are intracellular parasites that can cause severe disease in their hosts including reduced larval development, growth, and fecundity of adults. There are a number of reports of microsporidia found in European L. dispar populations (Maddox et al, 1999;Pilarska et al, 1998;Solter et al, 2000;Timofejeva, 1956;Weiser, 1957;Zelinskaya, 1980), indicating that microsporidia are important components of the natural enemy complex in Europe. In contrast, microsporidia have never been recovered from L. dispar collected in North America .…”

“…Two isolates in the genus Nosema were recovered from isolated L. dispar populations in Levishte and Veslec, Bulgaria, approximately 60 km north of Sofia, during outbreaks in 1996-1997(Pilarska et al, 1998Solter et al, 2000). Preliminary bioassays of the Nosema sp.…”

Fungal pathogens as classical biological control agents against arthropods

“…To conduct the recent introductions of microsporidia against L. dispar, a battery of nontarget tests were conducted. These results demonstrated that N. lymantriae did not infect any of the non-target species tested and V. disparis killed a small number of non-targets directly but did not persist in the non-target populations the following years Maddox 1998, 1999;Solter et al 1997Solter et al , 2000. To introduce V. disparis and N. lymantriae in 2008, permission was sought and granted from four different agencies: the United States Department of Agriculture-Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service-Plant Protection and Quarantine, the Environmental Protection Agency, the North American Plant Protection Organization and the Illinois Department of Agriculture.…”