Discovery of Fusarium solani as a naturally occurring pathogen of sugarbeet root maggot (Diptera: Ulidiidae) pupae: Prevalence and baseline susceptibility

Abstract

The fungus Fusarium solani (Mart.) Sacc. was discovered as a native entomopathogen of the sugarbeet root maggot, Tetanops myopaeformis (Röder), in the Red River Valley of North Dakota during the 2004 sugarbeet production season. This is the first report of a native pathogen affecting the pupal stage of T. myopaeformis. Forty-four percent of larvae collected from a field site near St. Thomas (Pembina Co.) in northeastern North Dakota during May and June of 2004 were infected with the entomopathogen. The mean LC 50 of F. solani, assessed by multiple-dose bioassays with laboratory-reared pupae, was 1.8 × 10 6 conidia/ml. After isolation and confirmation of pathogenicity, a pure isolate of the fungus was deposited in the ARS Entomopathogenic Fungal Collection (ARSEF, Ithaca, NY) as ARSEF 7382. Symptoms of F. solani infection included rapid pupal tissue atrophy and failure of adults to emerge. Transverse dissections of infected pupae revealed dense hyphal growth inside puparia, thus suggesting fungal penetration and pathogenicity. Mycelia emerged from pupae after host tissues were depleted. Exposure of older pupae to lethal concentrations caused rapid mortality of developing adults inside puparia. A second, more extensive field survey was conducted during the 2005 cropping season, and F. solani infection was observed in root maggots at most locations, although at lower levels (1–10%) of prevalence than in 2004. Aberrant timing or amounts of rainfall received could have caused asynchrony between pathogen and host during the second year of the experiment.