Observations on the entomopathogenic fungus Hirsutella citriformis attacking adult Diaphorina citri (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) in a managed citrus grove

Field Trial of Aqueous and Emulsion Preparations of Entomopathogenic Fungi Against the Asian Citrus Psyllid (Hemiptera: Liviidae) in a Lime Orchard in Mexico

“…For instance, numerous healthy hosts could be infected with a lethal, sublethal, or innocuous concentration of conidia that eventually will kill the insect through time and on several host plants, possibly far away from the initial site of infection. This scenario would reflect a possible strategy or adaptation of the fungus to spread and survive as suggested by Casique-Valdés et al (2011) andHall et al (2012).…”

“…Easy integration of fungi with pesticides has motivated the exploration of diverse fungal species, e.g., Beauveria bassiana (Bals.-Criv) Vuill. (Hypocreales: Cordycipitaceae) (Padulla & Alves 2009;Gandarilla-Pacheco et al 2013;Casique-Valdes et al 2015), Hirsutella citriformis Speare (Hypocreales: Ophiocordycipitaceae) (Subandiyah et al 2000;Meyer et al 2007;Casique-Valdes et al 2011;Hall et al 2012;Romero-Rangel et al 2012;Cortez-Madrigal et al 2014;Orduño-Cruz et al 2015;Perez-Gonzalez 2015a,b), Isaria fumosorosea Wize (= Paecilomyces fumosoroseus) (Hypocreales: Cordycipitaceae) (Subandiyah et al 2000;Meyer et al 2007;Hoy et al 2010;Gandarilla-Pacheco et al 2013), and Lecanicillium lecanii (Zimm.) Zare & W. Gams (= Verticillium lecanii) (Hypocreales: Cordycipitaceae) (Rivero-Aragon & Grillo-Ravelo 2000).…”

“…Due to its characteristic sporulation in the insect (Hall et al 2012), visual detection of attacked specimens in the trees frequently suggest a potential high value of the fungus for D. citri biological control. However, Hall et al (2012) indicated an estimated contribution of H. citriformis in the reduction of vector populations by 4%. Hence, it is necessary to expand the exploration for highly pathogenic H. citriformis strains that allows re-evaluating the role that this fungus species may have for biological control of D. citri.…”

In vitro selection of a fungal pathogen for use against Diaphorina citri

“…Population-regulating epizootics of H. citriformis have been reported in ACP populations in Florida (Hall et al, 2012) and in Mexico (Casique-Valdes et al, 2011;NOC, personal observation), and its pathogenicity has been evaluated in the laboratory (Meyer et al, 2007). Furthermore, the fungus Isaria fumosorosea Wise has been isolated and studied in ACP, confirming the potential of fungi as control agents (Meyer et al, 2008;Hoy et al, 2010;Avery et al, 2011;Stauderman et al, 2012).…”

“…However, we cannot rule out the use of H. citriformis for the control of D. citri, as this species is the one found most commonly infecting natural populations of this insect in the field (Hall et al, 2012;NOC, personal observation). The regular presence of H. citriformis in D. citri populations in nature suggests a close co-evolution between the two species.…”