Natural occurrence of microsporidia infecting Lepidoptera in Bulgaria.

We examined 34 lepidopteran species belonging to 12 families to determine presence and prevalence of microsporidian pathogens. The insects were collected from May 2009 to July 2012 from 44 sites in Bulgaria. Nosema species were isolated from Archips xylosteana, Tortrix viridana, Operophtera brumata, Orthosia cerasi, and Orthosia cruda. Endoreticulatus sp. was isolated from Eilema complana. The prevalence of all isolates in their hosts was low and ranged from 1.0% to 5.3%. Phylogenetic analyses of the new isolates based on SSU rDNA are presented.