Interactions between Entomopathogenic Fungi and Entomophagous Insects

Direct treatment of predators with entomopathogenic fungi (EPF) at different concentrations revealed that some species, like Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae, were found to have detrimental effects on all developmental stages of some predator species. Other species, like Numoraea rileyi and Paecilomycis fumosorosius, showed little or no effect on treated predators. Adult predators were found to avoid feeding on fungi-infected prey. EPF could be isolated from hibernating or field-collected coccinellids. Some studies indicated that combining a fungus with a predator could increase the rate of insect control in the field. As for parasitoids, this review indicates that the developmental stages of the egg parasitoids can develop successfully in host eggs treated with fungi. However, fungus-infected hosts negatively impact the development of larval parasitoids inside such hosts and this impact depends on the species and concentration of the fungus as well as the time between infection and parasitism. Some parasitoid females can discriminate between fungus-infected and uninfected hosts and do not parasitize the infected hosts. With appropriate timing, the parasitoids or predators could be combined with fungi for the biological control of insects in the field.