Diversity of insect pathogenic fungi infecting stored grain insects in Punjab, Pakistan

Abstract: The occurrence of insect pathogenic fungi isolated from stored grain insect pests collected from various locations of Punjab, Pakistan was investigated. In these surveys, a total of 25,720 insects from six different species were evaluated and 195 isolates from 24 different fungal species were identified. The recovered fungal species included; Ascomycetes Beauveria bassiana sensu lato (Balsamo) Vuillemin (Hypocreales: Clavicipitaceae), Metarhizium anisopliae sensu lato (Metschnikoff) Sorokin (Hypocreales: Clavicipitaceae), Purpureocillium lilacinum (Thorn) Samson (Hypocreales: Ophiocordycipitaceae) and Lecanicillium attenuatum (Zare and W. Gams) (Hypocreales: Clavicipitaceae). The cadavers of Tribolium castaneum Herbst were significantly infected with the fungi followed by Sitophilus oryzae L., Rhyzopertha dominica F., Cryptolestes ferrugineus Stephens and Callosobruchus maculatus F., while, the least were recovered from Trogoderma granarium Everts.