Identification and entomopathogenicity of newly-isolated fungi infecting Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Homotera: Psyllidae) in Murraya orchards of Fujian, China
Abstract
Among fungal isolates obtained from Murraya panciculata L. groves in Fujian, China, seven were tested pathogenic against the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Homoptera: Psyllidae). In the present paper, the isolates were identified for their taxonomic ranks and compared on their entomopathogenicity against ACP adults. Based on the analysis of conidia morphological data and ITS sequences of 18 S rDNA, the fungal isolates FJAT-9620, FJAT-9621, FJAT-9622, FJAT-9624 and FJAT-9719 were identified as Beauveria bassiana, FJAT-9623 as B. asiatica and FJAT-9720 as Lecanicillium attenuatum. Bioassays revealed that fungal isolates FJAT-9622, FJAT-9623, FJAT-9719 and FJAT-9720 infected adult psyllids with mortality of 95.00-98.33% at 27±1oC and 100% relative humidity (RH) in the laboratory. Meanwhile, isolates FJAT-9620, FJAT-9621 and FJAT-9624 induced significantly lower mortality (3.33-40.00%) on the psyllids.