Abstract
<em>Hesperomyces virescens</em> Thaxt. is a fungal parasite of coccinellid beetles. One of its hosts is the invasive harlequin ladybird <em>Harmonia axyridis</em> (Pallas). We present the first records of this combination from Poland.
Highlights
Harmonia axyridis (Pallas) is a ladybird of Asiatic origin considered invasive in Europe, Africa, and both Americas [1]
H. virescens was reported on different coccinellid hosts from many countries it was never observed on Harmonia axyridis in its native range
Hesperomyces virescens infection is considered a rare example of acquiring novel parasite by invasive species as it is assumed that invasive Harmonia axyridis strain was originally free of infection [9,10]
Summary
Harmonia axyridis (Pallas) is a ladybird of Asiatic origin considered invasive in Europe, Africa, and both Americas [1]. One of its natural enemies is Hesperomyces virescens Thaxt., an obligatory biotrofic fungal ectoparasite of the order Laboulbeniales. This combination was described for the first time in Ohio, USA in 2002 [2] and soon afterwards recorded in many other localities in North America ([3] and references therein). Four years later it was recorded in Belgium [4] and subsequently in the Netherlands (2008), Germany (2008), the United Kingdom (2011), the Czech Republic (2013), Croatia (2013), and Hungary (2014) [3,4,5,6,7]. We report the presence of a second species, Hesperomyces virescens, in Poland
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