ABSTRACT
Pathogenicity of a chilean wild collection of Metarhizium spp. and Beauveria spp. on Aegorhinus superciliosus, Asynonychus cervinus and Otiorhynchus sulcatus.

Andrés France I. 1, Macarena Gerding G., Marcos Gerding P. y Alicia Sandoval V.
 

Different isolates of the entomopathogenic fungi Beauveria and Metarhizium, collected throughout Chile, were screened for three important curculionid (weevil) pests. Nine Beauveria and 10 Metarhizium isolates were evaluated on adults of Aegorhinus superciliosus, 37 Beauveria isolates on Asynonychus cervinus larvae and 24 Metarhizium on Otiorhynchus sulcatus adults. Inoculated insects were observed daily and compared using a mortality index. The most effective isolates were M430 and B306 for A. superciliosus, B 179 for A. cervinus and M151b for O. sulcatus. There were also numerous strains that caused low or very reduced insect mortality, suggesting the specificity of the different fungi for different insects. The foregoing justifies the search for new and better isolates, as well as additional laboratory and field evaluation of the better strains.

Keywords: Biological control entomopathogenic fungi curculionids survey
1 Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, Centro Regional de Investigación Quilamapu, Casilla 426, Chillán, Chile. E-mail: afrance@inia.cl.