The Fungus <i>Phlebiopsis flavidoalba</i>’s Pathogenicity and Virulence Toward the Fluted Scale (<i>Praelongorthezia acapulcoa</i>) Pest of Rice and Sugarcane Crops

Sugarcane is one of the main crops in Morelos State, Mexico. The presence of the insect pest <i>Praelongorthezia acapulcoa</i> (Morrison), commonly known as the fluted scale insect, was observed in sugarcane and rice crops, causing losses of up to 30% of production in both crops. In this...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Silvia Hernández-Hernández, Facundo Muñiz-Paredes, Guadalupe Peña-Chora, Víctor Manuel Hernández-Velázquez
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-11-01
Series:Microbiology Research
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2036-7481/15/4/162
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Summary:Sugarcane is one of the main crops in Morelos State, Mexico. The presence of the insect pest <i>Praelongorthezia acapulcoa</i> (Morrison), commonly known as the fluted scale insect, was observed in sugarcane and rice crops, causing losses of up to 30% of production in both crops. In this work, a fungus isolated from the mycosic cadavers of <i>P. acapulcoa</i> was identified as the basidiomycete <i>Phlebiopsis flavidoalba</i> (Cooke) Hjortstam via morphological and molecular identification using the ITS, <i>tef 1</i>, and 28S regions. Its pathogenicity toward <i>P. acapulcoa</i> was verified in laboratory tests, causing a mortality rate higher than 60%. Its virulence toward <i>P. acapulcoa</i>, estimated as the mean lethal concentration (LC<sub>50</sub>), was 9.7 × 10<sup>6</sup> conidia mL<sup>−1</sup>. This work constitutes the first report about a basidiomycete with direct entomopathogenic activity and biological control of the fluted scale insect, <i>P. acapulcoa</i>.
ISSN:2036-7481