Characteristics of an Entomopathogenic Fungus Infecting Corythucha ciliata (Hemiptera: Tingidae)

摘要

Overwintering adults of sycamore lace bug (Corythucha ciliata) infected by an unidentified pathogenic fungus were found on the stems of street trees of sycamore in Cheongju city. The objective of this study was to describe this entomopathogenic fungusinfecting overwintering sycamore lace bug adults. This unidentified fungus colonized the insect adult body and formed white colony with subglobose clusters of conidiocarps. The size of conidiocarps was 300 to 400 um and each conidium was 15 to 20 μm. The conidiospore was globus and 2.5 to 3.0 μm in diameter, and the hyphae were 1 to 5 μm thick. This fungus was successfully isolated and cultivated on potato dextrose agar medium (PDA). The fungal colony was white and then became light yellow. When conidia from this pure culture were inoculated into the overwintering adults, the fungus formed conidiocarps with the same morphology on the insect body and the lethal rate by the fungus was 88+-16%. This fungus has over 99% homology with Cordyceps bassiana(imperfect fungal name is Beauveria bassiana) in ITS-5.8s rDNA base sequence. The fungal ecology and the infection process of the fungus into its host need to be clarified before using this fungus as a biological control agent.