Search results for "Beauveria"
showing 3 items of 13 documents
Pathogenicity bioassays of isolates of Beauveria bassiana on Rhynchophorus ferrugineus
2012
BACKGROUND:The control ofRhynchophorusferrugineus (Olivier), themainpalmpest in theMediterraneanBasin, is problematic because of its biology and the current restrictions inmany European countries on the use of chemical insecticides in urban areas. Entomopathogenic fungi have been studied as potential biological control agents, but information on their natural incidence is limited. Strains of Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) Vuillemin were isolated from symptomatic insects collected on dead palms, and their pathogenicity against different instars of R. ferrugineus was evaluated in the laboratory. RESULTS: The overall percentage of infected insects found in Canary palms was 7%. In laboratory bioa…
Use of biorational insecticides for the control of Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) infestations on open field tomato
2012
Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), the tomato leaf miner, is one of the most devastating pests affecting tomato crops in Italy. Management of T. absoluta was assessed in open-field tests using three biorational insecticides, Azadirachtin, Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki, and Beauveria bassiana, and a combination of three synthetic insecticides, Emamectin, Indoxacarb and Metaflumizone, as a control treatment. Our results showed that only the combination of Azadirachtin – B. thuringiensis was able to reduce the impact of tomato leaf miner on the fruit’s marketable production similarly to the control treatment. This finding suggests that biorational insecticides are a goo…
Data from: Ants medicate to fight disease
2015
Parasites are ubiquitous, and the ability to defend against these is of paramount importance. One way to fight diseases is self-medication, which occurs when an organism consumes biologically active compounds to clear, inhibit or alleviate disease symptoms. Here, we show for the first time that ants selectively consume harmful substances (Reactive Oxygen Species, ROS) upon exposure to a fungal pathogen, yet avoid these in the absence of infection. This increased intake of ROS, while harmful to healthy ants, leads to higher survival of exposed ants. The fact that ingestion of this substance carries a fitness cost in the absence of pathogens rules out compensatory diet choice as the mechanism…