Laboratory evaluation of entomopathogenic fungi Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae against puparia and adults of Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae).

Laboratory experiments were done to measure the pathogenicity of 10 autochthonous isolates of Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) Vuill. and of five Metarhizium anisopliae (Metsch.) Sorok. toward puparia and adults of the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae). Although all isolates applied via inoculation of the fungal suspensions on the ventral surface of the abdomen were pathogenic to adults, with mortality rates ranging from 30 to 100% and average survival times (ASTs) from 6.5 to 8.6 d, when C. capitata puparia were immersed in the conidial suspensions, only B. bassiana Bb-1333 and EABb 01/103-Su and M. anisopliae EAMa 01/58-Su isolates caused >50% mortality of puparia. In a second series of bioassays conducted on five selected isolates, adults were sprayed with four 10-fold concentrations ranging from 1.0 x 10(5) to 1.0 x 10(8) colony-forming units (cfu)/ml. The median lethal concentrations (LC50) of the four most virulent isolates ranged from 4.9 x 10(5) to 2.0 x 10(6) cfu/ml with estimated time to kill 50% of the insects ranging from 4.6 to 5.3 d. The effect of a sublethal dose (ca. LD50) of either B. bassiana EABb 01/103-Su or M. anisopliae EAMa 01/58-Su isolate was studied by reciprocal crossing. Treatment with B. bassiana reduced fecundity and fertility at 6, 8, and 10 d after treatment, with fecundity and fertility reductions ranging from 20.0 to 71.2% and from 33.6 to 60.0%, respectively. These reductions occurred in pairing combinations of treated females with either treated or nontreated males. M. anisopliae was more effective in reducing fecundity and fertility at 6 d after treatment, with the reduction varying from 58.4 to 72.1% and from 28.6 to 45.9%, respectively. In addition, the first oviposition was significantly delayed for 1 d in females treated by either fungal species. The above-mentioned five selected isolates were assayed against C. capitata puparia treated as late third instars in sterilized soil at 25'C under three moisture conditions (-0.1, -0.01, and -0.0055 MPa). At -0.01 MPa, all isolates were low pathogenic to C. capitata puparia, whereas significant differences in the puparia mortality occurred between isolates at -0.1 and -0.0055 MPa. The highest pupal mortalities ranged from 52.5 to 70.0%, as a function of soil moisture and were caused by EAMa 01/58-Su and Bb-1333 isolates.