Frequency and Diversity of Fungal Genera Contaminating the External Body Parts of Leaffooted Bug, Leptoglossus phyllopus (Heteroptera: Coreidae)

Abstract

Coreid bugs and in particular species in the genus Leptoglossus are considered insects pests of economic importance and have been shown to vector plant pathogens especially fungi. Leaffooted bugs, Leptoglossus phyllopus (L.), were collected from pecan, Carya illinoinensis (Wangenheim) K. Koch, Gaura parviflora Dougl., pomegranate, Punica granatum L., and Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench, fields in Brazos and Burleson counties, Texas in 2008 and 2009. A number of genera of fungi, including Alternaria spp., Bipolaris spp., Claviceps spp., Colletotrichum spp., Curvularia spp., Fusarium spp., Fusicladium effusum, Aspergillus spp., Rhizopus spp., smut and several unidentified spores were found adhering to the external body parts of these insects. Several of these fungal genera contain species that are pathogenic to sorghum and pecan on which leaffooted bugs are considered pests. In both years, Alternaria spp. was the most frequently recovered fungal species. In collection areas such as pecan orchards or from G. parviflora growing close to pecan trees, higher amounts of Fusicladium effusum, causal agent of pecan scab, a very economically important disease, were found contaminating the external body parts of these bugs. Thus, these mobile insects have the potential to passively transmit fungal diseases from plant-to-plant, between fields or orchards and different crops, plant hosts, and habitats.