Efficacy of Baeuvariabassiana (Bals.) Vuil against Chrysomyamegacephala (Fabricius) Larvae (Diptera: Calliphoridae) via Contact and Ingestion

Nawal S. Mehdi

Abstract: Pathogenicity of two isolates of Entomopathagenic fungus of Beauvaria bassiana against Chrysomya megacephala larvae were evaluated in the laboratory. This is the first experiment to evaluate the pathogenicity of a local isolate of this fungus against blow fly larvae. Two bioassay methods were conducted spraying the larvae directly with fungal spores suspension and mixing its food by three concentrations of spores suspensions (106, 107 and 108 spores. ml-1). Data showed that the two isolates of B. bassiana 2 (Imported isolate) and B. bassiana 1 (Local isolate) were effective and caused mortality and malformation in the treated blow fly larvae. The results revealed that accumulative mortality percentage of the treated larvae by directly spraying by 108 conidia. ml-1 were 90 and 63.33 for B. bassiana 2 and 1 respectively. The results of mixing the larval food were 100 % and 70 % respectively, different morphological malformation were depicted such as shrinking and brownish the larval body. The high larval accumulative mortality percentages by the two treatment methods showed that this blow fly species was very sensitive against this fungus isolates, which show that these isolates are promising agents for controlling it.

Keywords: Chrysomya megacephala, Beauvaria bassiana, Larvae