Occurrence of Pandora sp (Entomophthoromycota) as pathogen of spittlebugs (Hemiptera: Cercopidae) pest of crops and pastures in Argentina

Abstract

Spittlebugs (Hemiptera: Cercopidae) are a major biotic limit to forage grass, milk and beef production in rangelands and pastures of the Neotropics (Valério et al, 1996). These insects inflict heavy economic damage to pasture grasses and crops such as rice, sugarcane and corn, causing mechanical damage by feeding, by the physiological effects of saliva and by facilitating the entry of pathogenic microorganisms (Peck 2001, Peck et al, 2004). Within the fungal family Entomophthoraceae approximately 16% of the entomopathogenic species correspond to Pandora genus. This genus infects mainly species from the orders Hemiptera and Diptera, to a lesser extent, Coleoptera, Hymenoptera and Lepidoptera. According to the bibliography, to the present the only families of Hemiptera affected by this fungal genus are Aphidae, Aleyrodidae, Cicadidae, Jassidae and Delphacidae (Keller 2007). The natural occurrence of entomophthoralean fungi infecting spittlebugs in Argentina was investigated during November to May in the period 2013-2016. Adults and nymphs were collected from Sorghum halepense and Setaria parviflora var. parviflora in San Miguel de Tucumán, Tucumán province, were collected from their host plants using aspirators, nets or entomological forceps Fungal species were characterized on the basis of morphological and molecular keys. Microscopic characters were described from material mounted in lactophenol/aceto-orcein (1% w/v), and the amplification of the SSU rDNA was carried out using the universal primers nu-SSU-0021-5' and nu-SSU-1780-3'. This study reports for the first time the occurrence of Pandora delphacis (Fig. 1) infecting adults of the economically important spittlebugs Deois (Deois) mourei (Fig. 1, a-b), D. (D.) knoblauchii, Isozulia christenseni christenseni and Notozulia entreriana (Fig. 1, c-d) increasing the host range and geographical distribution of entomophthoralean fungi.