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Research Project: Exotic Whitefly and Subtropical Invasive Pests of Vegetables and Ornamental Plants

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Title: Characterization of the entomopathogenic fungal species conoideocrella luteorostrata on 17 the scale insect pest fiorinia externa infesting the christmas tree abies fraseri in the USA

Author
item URBINA, H - Florida Department Of Agriculture And Consumer Services
item Ahmed, Muhammad

Submitted to: Florida Entomologist
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/9/2021
Publication Date: 4/8/2022
Citation: Urbina, H., Ahmed, M.Z. 2022. Characterization of the entomopathogenic fungal species conoideocrella luteorostrata on 17 the scale insect pest fiorinia externa infesting the christmas tree abies fraseri in the USA. Florida Entomologist. 105(1). https://journals.flvc.org/flaent/article/view/128966

Interpretive Summary: Elongate hemlock scale (EHS) infested Christmas tree shipments in Florida get interdicted, quarantined, confiscated, destroyed, or returned. EHS is one of the major invasive pest species of Christmas trees and does not occur in Florida. This situation leads to interdicting the movement of EHS on infested Christmas trees into Florida. In the last few years, we found most of the individuals of EHS intercepted on Christmas trees imported from North Carolina and Michigan covered with entomopathogenic fungus species suggesting the potential use of this fungus species as biocontrol of EHS. This new fungus species could help avoid the rejection of shipments since interdiction does not apply if EHS is dead. Our findings bring new and robust evidence that fungus species found in this study can be used commercially to help the Christmas trees industry control EHS and resolve the ongoing regulatory issues. They will immediately appeal to growers, extension agents, and researchers working on the management of EHS on Christmas trees.

Technical Abstract: We characterized the entomopathogenic fungus Conoideocrella luteorostrata (Clavicipitaceae, Hypocreales) on the elongate hemlock scale, Fiorinia externa (Diaspididae, Hemiptera) infesting Fraser fir Christmas tree, Abies fraseri (Pinaceae, Tracheophytes) cultivated in Michigan, North Carolina and Virginia, and interdicted in Florida. This study is based on the isolation in pure culture, and morphological and molecular characterization using a four-locus (ITS, LSU, SSU, tef1) dataset, and represents the first record of C. luteorostrata on F. externa. Here we recommend the use of C. luteorostrata as a biocontrol agent against whiteflies and scale insects, considered the two of most significant plant pest groups and suggest that our isolate could be a source of new uncharacterized active compounds, as has been demonstrated in other C. luteorostrata strains. We also discussed the importance of exploring biological control agents along with exotic pest species in interdicted samples.