Application of Techniques for Quantification of Soil-Borne Entomophthoralean Resting Spores

Abstract

Eurois occulta undergoes extreme population fluctuations in Greenland, with long periods of low density punctuated by brief population explosions. During the summers of high E. occulta density in 2010 and 2011, large numbers of deceased late-instar larvae were observed in the summit disease position characteristic of entomophthoralean infection. Using genetic and morphological data, infected larvae from 2011 were determined to contain resting spores of a fungus of the genus Zoophthora, its first reported observation in the Arctic. In the absence of observation of primary spores or other identifying characters, a specific designation or description is not possible.